From The Opposite Side
by The Chosen Storyteller
Summary: Neru Akita is a normal teenager, Teto Kasane is a humanoid something-not-labeled. Neru distances herself out of not interested in the crowd, the world distances from Teto because she's not "like them". Neru lives in a normal house, Teto lives in a hospital room. From two sides of the world, and now they will clash. When even fate is uncertain, you may as well take chances...
1. Prologue

I don't even know what this is supposed to be. Don't try to make sense of the plot, please.

I went severely off track when I was writing a more "sad" story involving NeruXHaku as the main couple. But something really strange happened when in that story Teto (31) made an appearance to cheer up Neru after something happened. I don't know what happened after that. But I believe I became really interested in the idea of NeruXTeto. It may sound a little weird, but I think it's something new for me to try out.

Neru in this story is 17 years old, and Teto is...*sigh* 15. I've written a story with a large age gap before, so I wouldn't mind making Teto 31 here. But if I did, I'm sure someone would say that's "disgusting". Despite of course, the alterations in legal age across the world. *Rolls eyes*

Anyway, that's all of the description we need. Let's see if I don't horrifically suck at writing a story...! We're going in 3...2...1...begin!

**DISCLAIMER TIME – **I'm not musically-savvy, so it's not possible for me to have created Vocaloid or its characters. And whatever it was that created Teto Kasane and her gang.

* * *

_**From The Opposite Side**_

_**Chapter 1: "Prologue"**_

_**( A Vocaloid fanfiction typed entirely by The Chosen Storyteller )**_

* * *

Neru Akita didn't think of herself as the kind of person to care about the rest of the world. She wasn't like the rest of the teenage population; she was content with not making an effort. After all, a her age she still had all of the time in the world to give in to her parents' demands and attend a college.

She just wanted to live in the present. If she felt too tired to walk to school, she shouldn't have to bother. If that alarm clock continued to ring, all she would do is unplug the beast all while cursing the idiot who invented digital ones. That meant she had to walk across the room to unplug it.

But when that was over, the lazy girl would pull the blankets aside and slip back underneath. The clouds and light continued to shift outside of her window, eventually leading into the remains of the day. Neru wasn't very fazed by waking up at one in the afternoon; she was at least rested.

If there was any time left in the day, she would slip on some casual clothes and fix herself some simple sandwiches. While feasting on that, she would pop in a movie or video game she liked while her rear stayed in the same position for hours.

That was pretty much how she spent her days. But when her mother was especially unstable about the idea of her daughter becoming a freeloader, she would throw the uniform to her bed and shout in her ear until she dragged herself out of bed. Really though; was school that important? Did she really have to go through all of this suffering for some information she would more than likely forget come summer?

* * *

Teto Kasane thought she was as much of a regular person as anyone else. She had the humanoid appearance despite her pink hair, red eyes, and pale skin. Otherwise she had all of the normal body parts and senses. When she looked at herself in the mirror she thought she passed as a typical teenage girl. It didn't seem fair how she had to be cooped up inside of this dump.

Teto did on the other hand have some things the regular people did not. When she was too angry or too happy, bat-like wings would sprout from her back and she could use them to hover at great speed. She could also run fast if she wanted; if there was anywhere to run other than this dump. Perhaps less interesting, a tail also sprouted from her rear. But people usually just stared at her obvious wings.

The workers here always led her back to the room with a promise of either food or a hot bath prepared for her. But she didn't like to stay here. If she was just as human as the nervous and sweating ladies who escorted her back...why couldn't she have contact with the rest of this "hospital" as they called it?

The average idiot may think there's no hope in ever escaping, but the trapped girl didn't despair. Each attempt that fell on its ass motivated her to continue. For as long as she could remember they acted nervous in her presence or gasped when wings sprouted from her skin only to fall back with no damage. But she would change that someday.

That was how she spent her days. But she didn't lose the faith something would change.

* * *

What Neru thought would be another lame day changed dramatically. It all started when she was literally dragged by her feet out of bed. She didn't even say goodbye to her mother after scarfing down breakfast and slipping on her shoes. She just sulked out of the door, wondering why it was so important for her to get this 'high education'.

From her personal point of view: high school wasn't worth attending.

She didn't hate the idea of school. If there was one thing she wanted to accomplish in her life – it was proving to her family and her peers that she was not a freeloader who wouldn't be able to live unless people dropped coins on the train.

What did they know about her? Of course she was suitable for a job – there was something for everyone in the world! She was simply...not eager to make a living at seventeen. She felt like she still wanted to be young and have no responsibility looming over her head. She wanted to be able to lounge in the family room with some junk food.

Was that too much to ask for?

The world didn't want her to have a fun walk to school, apparently. She had been nearly pummeled by two wayward soccer balls, run over by a bicycle out of control, stepped in gum and ultimately had to leave her left shoe behind, and she was damn certain that the man cleaning off the broom as he swept intended to get the dust all over her head.

When the modest, silver-colored walls of the school came into her view she almost threw her arms to the sky with happiness. But there was not a chance she would sink as low as to love this dump. All it was good for consisted of was being a waste of her time. She never learned anything, and the teachers still looked at her disapprovingly from time to time just because she fell asleep often in class and drooled over school property.

But the most annoying part about school was that she was not the kind of girl to wander into the background. She didn't intend to make friends, but these persistent girls Rin and Miku continued to plea for her to at least give them each a chance to be friendly with her. The two seemed nice, but if she wasn't going to keep in contact with them by the time she was finished with studying for the rest of her life then...what was the flipping point?

She wished they wouldn't throw themselves at her and look so adorable while requesting friendship. Miku was attractive to begin with, and her voice getting chirpy when she talked to her only made her more attractive in a weird way. Rin on the other hand was more cute than actually hot. But she was still attractive, and she obviously knew gender wasn't stopping a lot of people in the school from fawning over her.

Sometimes it wasn't easy being attracted to the same sex.

Yeah, that was another little issue in her life. The school was stocked with a lot of single and very attractive girls, and of course she had to be targeted to join a social circle with two of the most pined for. Neru didn't think of herself as strictly into girls, because there had been times she would appreciate and indulge in male eye candy.

Considering Neru didn't have a way with people, she often tried to ignore she could feel attraction. Maybe there was a closet she was stuffed inside, but she really didn't give a damn. If someone could drag her out, that would be the same person she'd marry. But of course...not that she had made that a literal...she didn't want to marry so early!

Oh well. As Miku and Rin continued to try and befriend her and some of the boys flirted, she just claimed her usual seat in the middle row and buried herself in drawing characters from manga.

* * *

Teto believed another uneventful day would pass at the "hospital", and she was bored for the beginning of it. There were no visitors to play with. The only people who stopped into her room were two of the robots: Momo and Defoko.

Considering that her own being was described as "not of this world" by the staff, she found it odd that robots had been crafted somewhere, shipped here, and due to extremely humanoid looks functioned as cleaning and cooking like they were part of the staff. No one even used names for them when addressing; they called them by numbers.

In Teto's point of view they were not merely numbered staff members. Momo expressed emotions near constantly, and Defoko could be nice when she wasn't tormenting Momo from time to time. After one year from the date they arrived at the hospital, the three formed bonds. Even with a little tormenting from the more stoic Defoko's side.

They hadn't checked in all morning, however. When Teto asked some of the more nervous staff who gave her the usual breakfast, she mentioned through thick layers of sweat over her mouth that insert rude numbers here had been drained of energy and needed to be among the sunlight in the lobby to charge.

Well, that sucked. It wasn't the first time she heard of their internal batteries going to zero. Momo did this almost constantly because she found joy in working more than necessary. The fact that Defoko needed to charge was baffling – she was usually taking more breaks than needed.

After the unnecessarily-nervous woman left, Teto found herself sitting down on the floor and reaching for the music player that often kept her some form of entertainment. She didn't even know why she was given this a few years ago, but she didn't mind turning it on from time to time and even requesting for more sings to be included.

The one she immediately chose to play was a very upbeat, pop tune that never failed to bring her back to her spirits. Lost in the trance by the singer's cutesy voice and the guitars, she didn't even realize she was bobbing her head to it. The way music worked never seemed logical to her, but often the boring days seemed to go by quicker when she had this stuff to fast forward.

A few moments later, she even jumped to her feet and started dancing about the room. It was a little cramped, but the lack of personal furniture helped provide the space needed...especially when her wings happily burst from her back and unfolded while she lost herself entirely in the guitars and drums eventually fading. Then a harder song began to play, and the guys' raspy voices infiltrated her soul and was yet another magical experience to make the day slip away.

* * *

During lunch, Neru usually went to the front steps of the building to eat. She didn't think she was breaking any rules by doing this seeing as couples usually went to the roof to lick food off each other all the time.

A common belief was that eating alone meant that person was a freak. But Neru didn't consider herself resemble something like that. Okay, she did like a little manga in her spare time and often danced to anime soundtracks in her spare time.

Otherwise, Neru thought of herself to be sane. When she ate alone, she was only doing this because having so many people talking at once instead of feeding themselves was annoying as hell. She liked peace and quiet more than the average person.

Plus, eating alone offered the opportunity to reflect on life. Maybe she would think about the past. But not at the moment.

At the moment, her head was racing with the memory of a conversation she heard Rin and Miku having after class was over. She couldn't help but be slow in shoving her stupid books back into her almost never used bag, and things fell out anyway. As she lingered to collect everything, the two ate their lunch and babbled.

The conversation was actually worth listening to when Rin mentioned she had the opportunity to get a part time job. Apparently, she was struggling with money and the place hiring was desperate for workers. Even if the new employee in question looked younger than seventeen. Neru wouldn't have cared, but then the overly-chirping girl described the atmosphere.

Most importantly: her workplace was a mental hospital. Apparently, it has been around for quite a lot of decades now. The mental hospital was always coming and going with staff because most of the newbies were disturbed by the fact the atmosphere was so cheerful.

They were scared of a house of insanity just because the patients in question were cheerful.

What the hell?

Neru thought that was the dumbest thing she ever had the pleasure to hear, and while rising back to her feet had to leave a palm to her face.

Rin admitted she was almost prepared to run for her life when one of the patients tried to cut her hair with an old samurai sword just...**because**. And there were stories of one of the patients being locked here because she was a doorstep baby, and maybe not even of this world. These things caused her to spend two weeks debating the benefits and the cons.

But Miku encouraged her to go for it. But hey; Miku was surrounded by a blue-haired Otaku, a pink-haired queen of ice and stoicism, and two girls who were both abnormally huge in the chest location and drank obsessively. It wasn't hard to believe she was perfectly fine with the thought of her best friend risking her life at a mental hospital.

Their lack of concern for the possible danger was yet another reason for Neru to carve on the list of "why I'm not going to enter their social circle anytime soon". By the time she gathered her pencils and snacks, the topic was already changed to some sporting event they were going to obsess over later that week. Meh.

Neru left the classroom after this, and thought about what the squeaky girl had mentioned. This mental hospital sounded like something out of a manga, and somehow that made it extremely interesting. For this kind of plot to work however, you'd need a group of stereotypical girly girls who follow a handsome detective guy to investigate crime there. It could work with some tweaks, and bold artwork.

Maybe she'd even write that idea down. A smirk tugged on her lips as to consider the idea, but ultimately that thought fell out of her head when she realized it was almost time for lunch.

So this brought her to the eating alone, and recapping the moment. It was so strong in her mind that she almost felt prompted to ask Rin about her new workplace in even deeper detail. Why, she hadn't a clue. But if she checked this place out herself, maybe an answer would open up.

* * *

_**And so it continues on...**_

* * *

I have to admit: the plot of this story was thrown together last minute. When it comes to Neru pairings, I'm picky about them. But when I read a few stories for this one, I thought it would be fun to mix things up. I still want to write a NeruXHaku story sometime, but that won't be at the moment.

This was merely the prologue for the story. I specifically wrote this chapter without dialogue because I wanted to keep it short and simple. But the next chapters will have dialogue; don't worry. All you have to cross your fingers and worry about is my lack of skills in believable conversation! *Laughter* Can't wait...!

Anyway, I also want to mention that despite this story taking place in an unmentioned country that we're all going to assume is Japan despite no evidence...I'm not going to insert really embarrassing random outbursts of Japanese. You know; when someone relies on Google to give them a string of nonsense in a sentence, or constantly has the girls squealing that a friend's new hairclip is "super kawaii desu I love it chu". *Facepalm*

That's just...God, it's so...*Buries face into a nearby book*...Do I really need to say more on that topic? Because I swear, if I don't shut myself up I'm going to feel enough embarrassment for thousands of people.

A-anyhow, I-I hope you liked this beginning and...*Clears throat* maybe you'll want to see more of this story? Just let me know what you think so far in a review if you want to, or you can sit back with some snacks until I stop being lazy and continue with the story.

The Chosen Storyteller is signing out, baby. Have a good year, and don't stare at your computer for too many hours. Should you feel pain, consult a local doctor before reading more. See you around~


	2. Opportunities At The Door

I'm sorry if this plot is the worst thing you've ever seen, but I am trying to develop it to something.

Trying.

Hoping.

* * *

_**From The Opposite Side**_

_**Chapter 2: "Opportunities At The Door"**_

* * *

"...Going to be late if we keep this up!"

"I thought I'd swing into the habit, because it helps me not think about coffee."

"Where do you think baseball is most appreciated?"

"I need to gather more money if I want to buy the double set. It comes with a free copy of this fighting game about dragons."

"Geez, I'm getting tired of the history teacher's shit. He's so racist that it drives me insane to think about it!"

Neru stomped a foot angrily, then supposedly slyly removed her back from the wall. She thought that if she stood near the girls' bathroom she would be able to find either Rin or Miku at some point. But it seemed that the time she wanted to be around their stupid, smiling faces that was when neither cared to show up.

Listening to this droning babble was really getting on her nerves. There was so much a person on a stake out could take before throwing away the mission with a lack of damns.

She swayed on her feet. They were starting to ache, and sooner or later she'd have to abandon her stake out to have use of this bathroom. But what if neither of the annoying girls had the kind of needs most humans do? That sounded likely to her considering both acted like something from another planet now and then.

No one could deny that Miku's all natural teal hair and eyes were normal.

Anyhow, the lazy student wasn't prepared to lose her slender percent of hope. She glared at her sore feet temporarily, then lifted her eyes to glare daggers at the path leading to this room. She was certain she wouldn't have a lovely reputation as someone who stared out at everyone intensely, but there was no time to think about it.

All that mattered was a short and skinny, blonde who couldn't keep stay silent for one second. She was most distinguishable considering she also happened to be the only female student here who wore a jacket indoors even in summer. In one conversation she couldn't help but overhear, she would always giggle when asked it and mentioned her arms got cold easily.

But come to think of it, she never saw her remove the jacket if her arms supposedly warmed.

In the changing rooms – the only time Neru was forced to go into there was for athletic activity she didn't give a rat's ass about – Rin was never with any of the others to dress.

Not that Neru thought about what she may look like when she was changing, but it just seemed questionable. Yeah, she wasn't so comfortable being scantily clad around other girls but...what if the situation was more complex?

What if her anime-overwhelmed mind was just conjuring these ideas as she impatiently stood there?

"_I'm off track! Return! Hurry!_" She inwardly screamed to herself in her head, and thankfully that caused her eyes to widen with alertness. "_Yes...the only reason I'm lingering around this dump is to get information from Rin Kagamine. There's nothing else about this; no conspiracies about her lack of arm-baring!_"

Still, that freaked her out. Neru believed all of this time that **she **was the only one who didn't go mainstream.

She was so lost in her thoughts as she slumped against the wall, tired eyes taking in generic female face one after the other. Yes, some of them sent bizarre expressions, but she responded with a blank stare of her own.

Before Neru had any awareness, her feet caved in. She slid down until sitting, and she never realized how comfortable and cold it was. Maybe if she sat down, she would have an easier time in the stake out?

And so, another several minutes began to pass...

* * *

Finished with her daily snack, bright red fingernails brushed the remains of ice cream. There was some still trailing down her chin, so she took care of that with her tongue and enthusiastically lifted off the pile of cushions.

Thoughts were racing in and out of her mind – there was too many to contain.

"_I hope Defoko and Momo are finished charging; I need to check on them..._"

"_Today's ice cream was really fresh, and I think they added orange flavor too! It would have tasted really good with a loaf of bread and maybe some soda..._"

"_The birds outside are really loud; maybe I should catch one and keep it around my room! It could help wake me up in the morning..._"

"_Wow, the new button on my sleeve is so tight. If Momo had done this work, she would have been able to place it better. Ooh! That's right; I was going to check!_"

With her goals now placed before her, and Teto's chuckles when she realized that was a horrible ditz moment and shouldn't slip by again, she threw the empty cone into the wastebasket.

With a slight turn of her head, letting the current joy of seeing her friends again overtake her body, she was able to bring her more "non-human" characteristics. Her wings unfolded from her back, and her tail sprouted and wagged as the excitement revved up.

"_Alright guys, just wait for me and we'll play that new game I heard from a song!_"

Before she could actually control herself, Teto already effortlessly opened the new lock with a stray piece from her headphones. She pushed that into the lock, then watched happily as the indoor one fell.

With that, the door was loosened just enough to shove away and slip her hand through to reach the lock on the front. This always made her question the concept of a lock on the inside!

But maybe the staff around here just wanted to see her more often...

* * *

"Alright, I think that should do it."

The blue-haired guy – who seemed to stand out not from the hair, but his normally derpy expression – handed a certain walking target some disk.

Rin smiled appreciatively at her apparent friend, and eagerly accepted the aforementioned disk. "I've never been into video games, so I was worried I accidentally bought a glitched copy."

"_People like you are the ones who give female gamers a bad name._" God, Neru wanted to scream that thought across the room.

But this being the library, she couldn't risk being banned a second time. The first involved graffiti on the many tall shelves.

"You know, that scratch was hard to see." The blue-haired guy – Kaito, she could only speculate – started to lean over the back of her seat and a little too close on her shoulder. "Besides, you're usually very sharp when it come to purchases. But speaking of that if you want to, you could visit my house after school and borrow my console."

"Ooh, I wish I could but..." Rin, obviously noting the awkwardness of his move, she threw the friend zone in his face in the manner of rising to her feet for more distance. "Well, hasn't Miku told you about my new job from five to eight?"

Neru at long last found something she could eavesdrop properly on. This was it: this was what she had followed Rin around for three hours to gain! Now hopefully, that dumbass would stop his painfully-bad flirting and just drill details about her little job.

Unfortunately, he made a stupid floored gasp. This was followed up with him giving her the thumbs up.

"I didn't know you were accepted; congratulations, Rin! Well maybe if you're tired after work, I could pick you up for a late dinner-"

Neru rolled her eyes, then turned to one of the looming shelves. It wasn't too hard to find a very thick book, then repeatedly slam it against her forehead.

"Sorry, afterward I'll have to pick up on the chores and finish my late homework."

"Are you trying to turn me down nicely?"

"Kaito, I've given up on shouting that we're just friends."

**WHAM. **"Ow!"

**WHAM. **"Ow!"

**WHAM. **"Dammit, will something holy make this conversation turn into what I need?!"

Wrapped up in her beating, Neru didn't see the friends peer around the shelf with interest. She wasn't too far away; it was easy to get a look at her now.

When Neru overheard them both make confused, broken sentences she swiveled back to them and threw the book on constellations elsewhere.

"U-um, hey."

Rin and Kaito looked at her with familiar, lost expressions. And of course they didn't fail to mark record time for not gathering an answer there – being forced to look to each other hopelessly.

There wasn't much to look at with these people. Rin was her cutesy, blonde self. Kaito was tall and not really the muscular type, and the bag carelessly left open being his back revealed video game titles. Lovely.

Well, at least this airhead of a physical awkwardness that can't take a hint...understands the gaming spirit. Hopefully, he shall keep that alive and burning.

Upon seeing the opportunity out of literally nowhere, Rin excitedly shoved palms together and bounced off her toes. "Oh, have you met Neru before?" What the hell?

Neru grumpily folded her arms and rested against the nearby shelf, and unfortunately she had to deal with this Kaito dude suddenly standing beside her and taking in her physical looks as much as the cliche-seeker would expect.

Oddly, this wasn't the cliché where the female companion pounds his brains into a puddle.

Rin was suspiciously...smiling approvingly for him smiling with mindless eyes at her body.

"_It's fine; she's the same girl working at a mental hospital. She can do what the hell feels moral._"

She really wanted to pull this idiot away and ask about the mentioned hospital, but unfortunately Rin continued to smile and look on happily while Kaito took her hand without so much as a warning.

Neru's skin burnt crimson, but only out of complete confusion...there were other students in the library after all. Plus, how could she tell him she didn't find the opposite sex worth looking at in the sexual meaning?

Not reading her signals, Kaito fondly brushed her hand with his fingers like the most awkward thing she had seen in her life. He must have taken her vivid blush as one of those attracted signs; the stupid grin on his face hinted at that.

"I haven't seen you before, Neru. Where do you sit in class?"

"As far away from this kind of shit as possible!" God, she wanted to gnaw her hand off.

Kaito, finally taking a hint, dropped her hand like it was on fire. He shared some more baffled expressions with Rin whilst she took a few seconds to comb hair from her eyes and stop feeling self-conscious.

"Okay, okay, I...I don't come to school often." Neru tapped at her arms, the heat wasn't entirely gone...but she was feeling a little calmer. She turned away from the pair of fools, then deliberately started trailing along the titles of nearby books. "When I have come to school, I've seen you and Rin over there with Miku and some other people. Do all of you have some kind of society?"

Really, she didn't give a shit about their high school fun times.

But it sounded like a good chance to be on the good side. Sooner or later, they'd have to feel comfortable and in a rush of idealistic nonsense they would offer her a glimpse into their lives. It happened in a lot of games and shows, so why couldn't there be a base for that in reality?

For so many more seconds than the lazy student anticipated, the friends slipped arms around the back of each other. Then laughed really loudly.

Neru must have flinched ten times, before shoving her index fingers into her ears.

"We-we don't have shady activity like that!" Rin managed to say at the end of her laughter, and had to take hold of a table just to not collapse. Still, one or two beginnings of giggles escaped. "Do we really look like that to everyone else in the school? I always imagined we looked kind of cool to everyone else!"

Kaito had long fallen into one of the chairs at the table. Finished making more of an idiot out of himself pounding the surface, he had some brief words to say...

"You're as observant as you are cute, Neru!" Neru shot him the death glare, but he merely paused to wink like hell yes she's even more attractive when angry. "The reason we're so close to Miku is out of her being a naturally charismatic person. Don't you think she spreads so much sunlight into a room when she enters?"

"The first time we me, I almost fell for her!" Rin may have been teasing, but the not so guilty smile that grew on her lips told another story.

Neru looked away from the two irritatedly, hand locked on the bottom of her shirt and clinging to that so much with growing lack of tolerance for these people. But it's not like she could leave them now. As much as she disliked seeing and hearing them act like fools, she wouldn't get the answers she wanted...for her manga...like this.

Maybe she needed a new change in topic. They seemed to admire Miku – if Kaito's "spreading light" comment and Rin's maybe old crush were anything to go by.

"Listen, I don't want to be **close **to you people but...well...I'm investing some interest."

She returned to combing over books and trying to look deliberate. Neru didn't know if she was holding their attention, but she kept her eyes ahead and aimlessly pulled out some book on past technology.

"You see, I've seen the way all of you get together and generally look like morons. But that doesn't mean I don't like the sight. I think it's healthy once in a while to be youthful..."

"I think staying youthful is ideal." Kaito looked utterly lost, but he was still smiling politely and actually looking at her face this time.

"The reason I wear this ribbon is so I don't get confused for a typical teenager who wants to grow up too fast." Rin mentioned, finger pointing at the white ribbon that held some of her hair.

Neru sent the two a half-interested expression while taking the book of no importance to her. She still feigned being busy, sitting down at the table and turning to the contents page

"Anyway, I want to know at least a little bit about you. If you would be so kind as to give me full names and maybe a recap of your typical schedules after school, that would benefit all of us."

Oh, how she wanted to close the book...and bash her face inward with it.

But Neru kept a little percent of cool; she was always a master when it came to an "I don't give a eff" expression.

It didn't take long for the dorks nearby to practically unleash a devastating blast of raw light from their faces. Actually, they just grinned like they were targeting a video game lying on the side of the street.

"Kaito," Turning to the guy who gave all men a bad rep, Rin's teeth were practically in full view as the grin widened. "Doesn't it sound like she's slyly hinting at wanting to get to know us? Neru, of all people! You know, she's usually the one who threatens to punch people who 'waste her time'!"

Neru's curled hand twitched for a flashing moment – it was just a habit.

"It sounds like that's what she means~" Oh, now it was appropriate to sing? Well, she did give Kaito a point for not sounding unpolished with that one outburst. His own grin was too annoying as he patted Rin on the head. "I am sure we wouldn't be terrible friends. Why she's so secretive, I don't understand-"

"Hey, don't speculate about the interested party!" Neru slammed the book closed, forgetting that as she rose from her seat with anger in her eyes. "All I am trying to hint at is...the both of you are so weird, that I feel I'm naturally required to be friendly! I don't want a lasting friendship, but I demand we stay on good terms from a hell of a space! And...don't flirt with me, Kaito. I don't put up with that crap, do you understand?"

By the time Neru was finished shoving all of that off her tongue like a flipping psycho she knew she resembled, she was trembling and trying so hard not to slap the both of them. If she did that in the library, she would be banned for the rest of the year.

Although she still wondered how it was possible that she could yell with no one trying to shut her up.

Although there was a high tension spreading around them, Rin was wonderfully oblivious as she bounced excitedly on her feet and smiled. Kaito laughed like that whole thing was a damn comedy routine, then leaned over to ruffle her hair. She growled, but didn't attempt to break his hand.

Somehow and Neru really didn't know she did it, the rest of the school hours passed without chaos. She wasn't one for taking notice to the boring shit that happened around this place, so all of that was out of her mind immediately when the final class ended. She hurriedly jumped out of her seat, threw her bag over her arm, and bolted for the exit.

She wasn't the first one out of the school, as a few others were already skipping down the stairs and talking to each other about topics like young love and music. Neru breathed deeply when she reached the last step and was out of the rest of the crowd's way; it was so refreshing to be out of that chaos.

But she still had one thing to do before going home and falling into bed.

She needed to track down Rin again to fill her head with nonsense of them being friends. The address to the mental hospital hadn't been given the first time, and she was pissed off about that.

When Neru stood up on her toes to try and scan the perimeter, she couldn't find any blonde hair held in a ribbon. There were a few other blondes at this school, so finding Rin wouldn't be that easy from a distance. She looked around, occasionally tossing someone who bumped into her aside, and she could only see the darker colors of black and brown. There may have been a teal and crimson-as-blood somewhere in there too.

"_Ugh, does this mean I have to make a quest out of this? I don't want to look like I WANT to be around those idiots._" Her eyes were becoming strained from this. Neru had no choice but to close them and allow moisture back as she approached her awaiting bicycle. "_Do I have any other choice? I guess I'll look for Rin, because I don't want to wait another day to ask. Okay, everything will be okay. I can always use this event in my future manga for comedic effect, so it's all fine..._"

Somewhat reluctantly, the lazy student seated herself on the bicycle and took off at a justified pace.

If she had to wait another day to talk to Rin and have her and Kaito think she was doing so out of friendliness, she would more than likely fall into depression. So all she could do was pretty much pray that the sillier girl didn't leave yet.

* * *

_**And so it continues on...**_

* * *

Sorry if the pace is a little slow at the moment. I've been trying to create a good one, and at the moment I have yet to find the one suitable for the plot. But the plot is coming together, and that's all I need to inspire myself.

Luckily however, I can say Neru will arrive at that mental hospital in the next chapter. I can't be certain, but maybe we'll even have interaction between our future couple!

Thank you for reading the chapter and such. No one has given a favorite or review yet, so I can't believe you like the story but...I'm grateful for reading and running too. Maybe I can actually take this story somewhere good – if a miracle will fall into my hands and make life shine again. We shall see, yes?

The Chosen Storyteller is signing out now! Be good, don't take Neru's advice when it comes to learning, and sit tight for the next chapter!


	3. Opening Hell In The Hospital 1

I apologize for being late on this update. This chapter was kind of hard to write.

* * *

_**From The Opposite Side**_

_**Chapter 3: "Opening Hell In The Hospital 1"**_

* * *

Getting out of her room wasn't hard at all, but trying to calm down the staff that had been on the same floor was certainly complex.

Before they noticed her slipping out from the door, the men and women shoving carts of medicines along were either talking to each other to clear the awkwardness or looking to be in a semi calm state.

A smile appeared on her face, and she eagerly walked over to let them know she was going to be out. It seemed like the most logical thing to do so they wouldn't have to run a bath only for it to grow cold, or have her miss out on dinner.

But when she bent down to help a guy who dropped pill bottles by accident, that was when he caught a glimpse of her friendly expression.

He screamed. To her utter confusion, this scream was the spark that lead everyone else either throwing swears in every sentence as they abandoned their assignments, or ran away without even trying to keep her back in.

Now all Teto could do was stand in the empty hallway, staring at a wreck of turned over carts and pills crushed to death and leaving powder on the floor. It was...kind of tempting to clean that up seeing as she did cause the panic, but she decided against it after gathering some of the powder and flinching at the thought of what it would be used for anyhow.

"I don't want to think about why anyone needs this. It doesn't even have a scent..." She tried to sniff it again, knowing her higher level senses would catch something. "Wow, I think cardboard has more of a scent."

She was about to lift off her knees, then return to her search for the robots. But when her hand grazed over one of the forgotten bottles, curiosity made the decision to see what this was all about in the first place. Was it anything like food? But how could it be if nothing hit her nose?

Whatever. She couldn't even make out the handwriting on the front label, but at least there was printing like off a computer screen. Teto couldn't help snarling slightly, just annoyed to see she couldn't make out the name which sounded utterly out of this world.

"_Well, maybe there's ingredients on the back. There has to be if it's something you eat, right?_"

She flipped it around, but nearly dropped it at the first sight of a small and organized list.

It wasn't often when her lips fell down instead of up, but here she was genuinely concerned about the list of side effects. One of them involved loss of appetite.

And that was just tragic.

"_Momo and Defoko know about the world – they'll tell me what the rest of these 'side effects' mean. But for now, I'll take this bottle with me for proof._"

She stashed the bottle into one of her sleeves that separated from the rest of her blouse. After ensuring it was secure, her wings sprouted again so she could fly away to the lobby.

* * *

"Ah, there you are."

"I'm sorry, Sir! My car had a flat tire, my cousin needs money, and my roommate thinks I'm not attractive-"

"Yes, well that's a shame. Now if you would be so kind as to remove the charger from number one-o-one as punishment."

"...How is unplugging a cord from some robot chick's ear a punishment? There's no electricity zapping off."

"Why don't you pull out that charger to see?"

"Alright...ah...AAH! It's freaking hot! Why...?!"

"Natural light, and the fact it's common knowledge electronics can heat intensely. Now bandage your hand, and we'll leave so one-o-one can awaken peacefully."

"Don't you need to program a schedule for her or something?"

"No. Her and the other are designed to follow orders without having to be reminded more than once. Now come, we have to make sure the hospital is still running smoothly."

* * *

"_I know you're working at...at...ugh..." Pause for gasp, and attempt at pulling air back in. "A mental hospital, but I feel like that letting me come along today would help strengthen...the imaginary friendship you and Kaito want to think exists."_

"_Aw Neru, you're so interested in my life! If we do become friends, I doubt even college would separate us."_

"_This isn't about lifelong friendships and high education..."_

"_I can see that. But honestly, I am super happy you're trying to be on my good side! I've heard stories that you are never walking alongside friends when you're in the hallway and it's kind of sad. Don't worry though; everyone in the group is nice."_

"_Can I come along, or not? If this isn't going to work then screw it; I'll watch TV until my eyes grow so tired they close against my will."_

"_...That sounds unhealthy. But you know, I don't mind it is you come with me."_

"_You don't?!"_

"_Really~ The hospital is actually really cool; it's got an impressive aura of mystery to it. It would be perfect for a manga series or something."_

"_Manga, huh?"_

"_Oh! If we're going as future friends, I should have Kaito come too!"_

"_Ugh, isn't he a little too stupid to spend more than ten seconds with?"_

"_I know he may come on strong Neru, but he's not a bad guy. He doesn't understand what the **friend zone **means; that's all."_

"_You'd think one guy among a group of girls would break down the friend zone."_

"_It's okay because one of the girls in the group likes him; Meiko."_

"_And this 'Meiko' is...?"_

"_She's brown-haired, brown-eyed, and...her bust-"_

"_Yeah, I think I've seen her before. She's the one sneaking alcohol between classes, right?"_

"_That's the one!"_

"_...Ugh, it's so hard to keep track of you people. But more importantly; that hospital. I don't care if you invite Kaito, Miku, Meiko, or the rest because I really need to see that place."_

"_O-okay, if it's that important you..."_

"_Thanks. How about if we all just meet up at the hospital separately? Big groups make my face break out."_

"_I'm not sure those two things are connected, but okay. Sure, we can meet up separately."_

It was still a blur of thrill for Neru. Now, she wasn't going to be acting stupid by leaping around for joy about the acceptance, but she was secretly smirking when Kaito wasn't looking.

She had been left alone with Kaito while they waited for Rin to go through the employee-only door and gather her special card. Upon arrival, they both found Rin already there dressed in casual clothing except for the really long lab coat that dangled near her ankles. Her explanation for that had been that all of the employees had to wear those coats so they could be distinguishable from mere visitors to the patients.

Also, it was apparently made out of a material that blood or bullets could go through with ease. This was flag number one for Neru; she felt it was fine to jump back and clutch the hand that brushed over the bottom of the coat. It really begged the question; why would it need to stop blood or bullets?

Rin continued to smile like this was a visit to an amusement park.

Upon arrival, Neru didn't have extremely amazed reactions to the building itself. It was certainly tall though; Rin's comment about the elevators and something about more than six floors helped paint the picture. Overall, the color was your typical silver with white windows. It didn't look ominous – no different than a typical hospital for physical needs. Of course she didn't automatically believe one for mental was chaotic but-oh...

In any event, it looked composed and ready for business. By this outer appearance, Neru expected the staff here were prepared to get things accomplished! A little broken minds here and there weren't an obstacle!

"If only I could say the same for myself."

Rin and Kaito stopped walking at that statement from nowhere. Neru noticed this when she could only hear her own feet against the echoing floor.

"What do you mean?"

Neru continued walking, her lack of turning back to them and slight huff of dismissal indicating she wasn't going to explain.

She felt she didn't have a reason to explain why she was commenting on the fact she could never be as hard-working as this hospital seemed to be.

"I guess she's not talking." But judging from the lowering of Kaito's tone, he wanted to hear it. Nevertheless, he and Rin were overheard jogging to keep up.

The three soon exited the dark hallway of nothingness. There wasn't even a painting or rug in the beginning hall, which was kind of bizarre at first.

Soon however, they came to the end in which light burst from. Rin picked up her speed, dragging their wrists along with her out of the sheer eagerness.

"Here we are, everyone! This is the front lobby where all of the waiting and signing in goes on!" Rin happily exclaimed whilst her friend and attempted friend hurried to catch their breaths. "This place is so amazing because it looks no different than any other lobby!"

As soon as the visitors were finished choking, they stood to full height and looked around the lobby. Kaito was obviously impressed, and he wandered about gazing at the various over-sized windows.

Neru wasn't going to show it beneath her typical scowl but...she was actually feeling the atmosphere of this room. It wasn't anything like that awkward, beginning hallway that resembled more of a level from a science fiction game.

The room wasn't incredible by any means, but it did contain four over-sized windows that let in tons of sunlight. It was starting to fade outside, but the way it filtered inside of this place and hit the burnt orange walls it was actually pretty. Along with the burnt orange color, there was something worth noting in the brown and the slight touches of white weren't that distracting.

As per what she would expected from a lobby they did have three rows of seating. Some were occupied, others weren't. Holders for magazines were placed on the end of some of the rows for the easily-bored. Across the room there was a reception desk with a rather nervous-looking employee too.

Neru couldn't help sympathizing with that sweating man. Even though this room wasn't the most tension-filled place she had been, something...something felt off. She couldn't shake it; the more she gazed around as if a tourist she felt so weird.

"Well, there's certainly more ground to cover than this." Rin straightened the coat, stuffed her card in one of the pockets, and turned to the others. "I wish I could show off all of it, but there's even some floors I've never been."

"Uh," This didn't count as digging deeper than necessary, please? Neru choked and looked elsewhere. "If you don't mind a little **detail**, where do you work in this hospital?"

"Floor number three." Rin chirped quickly, and when she began walking to the elevator her 'companions' followed suit. "That floor has a lot of the patients who aren't extremely unwell. I mean they are a little paranoid and sometimes look at me like I'm going to hold them hostage, but they're still in touch with what really exists."

"Maybe we could go there with you." Kaito noted, pausing to rush into the elevator before he failed to stay with the party. Neru quietly fumed about his catching up. "I've always wanted to confront someone who's mildly out of touch with the real world. The conflict between a troubled mind and reality is worth studying, and it may help after high school."

"Wow, I'm impressed you're thinking ahead!"

"Mmm hmm, yeah, Kaito's amazing and blah. Come on, let's go up already."

* * *

The sudden shift to being awake again was always affecting her poor ear. Every time that charger was shoved into it and ripped out without a warning she found herself accidentally swearing and having to sit down for a moment.

But she couldn't complain about the fact these people found it necessary to charge her in the first place. At laboratory she worked at before, a lot of the staff were so tired they sometimes let her drain as they finally went home. It would take a longer time being "asleep" with that damned cord burning her ear.

At least here, the natural sunlight sped the process.

Momo opened her eyes after her quick rest, and upon hearing some rumbling footsteps she jumped to her feet with a broom in hand. Not wanting to be seen slacking, she waved that broom over the floor so much that it was amazing she didn't make the dust explode.

"Do something!"

"What?!"

"Oh damn it, that beast is out of her room! You...! Hey what's your face; control her before she gets out!"

"Code! Code! Oh, what is the lockdown code?! EVERYONE EVACUATE THE PREMISES!"

Some of the ones who were yelling raced past her and destroyed both her hair and the straw on the broom. Not only was she standing there clutching where a human heart would have been while the other hand smoothed the damaged locks, but now she was utterly bewildered from what just happened.

"_This usually doesn't happen unless someone dangerous escapes._" No one pulled her to the side and ordered combat from her, so that was good. But she couldn't shake the worry off as she paced the hall. "_Oh no, by 'beast' I hope they didn't mean..._"

Slowly, the realization knocked on her skull and let itself into where a human brain would have been set. Momo's eyes flew open, and her shoes slid against the floor before she could hurriedly sprint away.

They meant Teto, right?

That wouldn't be good! Teto was still utterly blind to why these people were too horrified to even make eye contact! Every time she broke out she would wander into things that stimulated her curiosity and destroy some things along the way. Momo knew she didn't mean to, but that was one of the things that labeled her as the spawn of evil.

* * *

The elevator reached the floor, and an almost robotic ding alerted the fact. Neru was the first to leave, secretly wanting to be the first to investigate this place and have her inspiration. So far on the clipboard she brought with her, the only thing of interest was the lobby with the massive windows.

So far, there wasn't a lot of good science fiction material for a manga bout that kind of thing.

At least, that was what the lazy student thought until the doors flew open she exited. A little heavier than before, Neru's mouth threatened to fall open.

She was standing in a hallway as big as the lobby! That may not have meant a lot considering lobbies aren't roomy places, but she expected a more narrow and crushed in experience! No, there was much room to spare despite some futuristic computers and various decorations like paintings and plants around the area.

Pale blue was on the wall, and white was on the floor. It was almost too serene for its own good especially with the lack of any bustling employees in lab coats like she had set her expectations for. There were several doors, and some windows. A few windows mere open, but others were closed for more than likely privacy reasons. Also, she noticed two restrooms and a vending machine.

Helpfully, in the process of skipping out Rin closed her partially-open mouth.

"Wow, this place looks deserted." Kaito broke the silence, disappointed judging from his tone. He walked past the girls aimlessly approaching the vending machine. "I know it's a hospital, but I kind of expected a lot of the staff to be on this floor guiding the patients or fighting off assassins."

"You have to be kidding about that assassin comment." Neru gave him a barely-interested expression, of course he took that as a cue to smile flirtatiously which she ignored. "There should be intense drama, you know. Like patients attacking the staff, fire breaking out, or at least someone on the staff not getting their pay for work and yelling about starting a revolt!"

"_Where do they find these scenarios...?_"

Rin cleared her throat, but hurried over to one of the nearby windows. Her job must have been to tend to the patients because Neru couldn't help noticing that the lady being the window who looked about college age was pounding on it for a need.

At that point, Neru pulled out the clipboard along with her special pen. Okay, the pen wasn't special...but it was in magenta ink. It looked fancy.

Rin didn't seem to care that she now had an audience. She energetically talked to the patient who was looking furious at first, but soon she sat down in a chair while appearing charmed. The conversation was anyone's guess considering it sort of resembled Italian.

"_It's too bad I never learned a second language. But then again, I can find some other people to translate the manga for me so I really don't need it._" Neru casually leaned near the vending machine with Kaito, just writing a recap of the visit on the paper.

She and Kaito also purchased some drinks and downed them as they watched Rin step into the room. From the window she could be seen helping the patient gather some crutches that must have fallen. Ah, so that's what the lady was angry about. Well, anyone would be pissed about losing their way of walking.

Before Neru could finish the paragraph she was on, the hand around her pencil froze up. She whipped her head left and right, wondering what just happened. But she could have sworn she felt something – a sudden chill went down the back of her neck.

"Hey Kaito, did you feel that?"

Kaito paused in lifting a can to his lips. His eyebrows connected and his expression came off as a blank other than that, but he thought about it anyway.

Neru could only stand there tapping her pencil, and still looking around to figure out if she was standing near an air conditioning vent or something of that variety.

Then a palm softly rested on the top of her head. She responded with a growl.

"Neru, relax. No one is going to sneak up and shove a weapon in your back." Kaito took his hand away, thankfully, but he did lean over to some of the notes she wrote and looked impressed. "See? You're already studying some of the behavior here. That's what I intend to do."

"Starting with that girl Rin is helping into the bathroom, right?"

"Maybe. She's got bed hair and weak legs, but that only makes her cuter!"

Neru sighed with enough strength to knock herself over. But Kaito was again thankfully rushing over to the doorway to apparently wait for them to leave the bathroom.

She swore she felt a chill, but there wasn't anything to prove it was from an air conditioner. For the moment, Neru walked away from the machine and further down to a single bench.

"_I'll need to ask Rin if I can interview some of her coworkers. With their own knowledge, I can successfully base this setting on something realistic._"

Neru took a long swig of her beverage, tossed the empty cup into a wastebasket, then looked over what she did manage to write.

**1: An outer appearance of a normal hospital**

**2: Several workers who must wear a specific coat and card for either safety or identification**

**3: Expansive hallways**

**4: Many rooms, some of which are displayed to the public for either sake of keeping watch or the patient needing assistance**

**5: Part time work involving being nothing more than a caretaker**

**6: A balanced number of-**

"Attention! Attention all staff and potential victims!"

"What the hell?!" Neru practically rolled off the bench when she heard that shriek. It sounded like it was some kind of intercom.

"Hurry, you must be on guard for patient number fifty! Patient number fifty! This is no drill; patient number fifty has escaped her room again and could be highly dangerous!"

A red light instantly started flashing – Neru shoved palms over her hurting eyes and actually did fall to her knees that time. Oh, she wanted to rip that stupid microphone out of what dumbass was using it-

"Patient number fifty can be identified by pink hair, red eyes, and possibly may have her wings visible! HURRY BEFORE WE ALL DIE!"

The dumbass who was reporting all of this suddenly shut up, but that was replaced by the flashing light only being more abusive on the eyes. Running could be overheard and blinds were closing, but most of the noise came from Kaito asking a ton of obvious questions and a conversation of Italian from Rin and the patient.

"How can we even see the patient if she has pink hair and eyes?! That would make her blend in!"

Neru's eyes flew open again, her mouth almost had the same fate. But when she could compose herself, she met a freaking out Kaito halfway and could do nothing more than place an admired hand on his shoulder.

Because he just made a valid point.

Yes, wouldn't this one they were looking for blend in?

Before either had any time to think about it deeper, Rin bolted from the patient's room. The blinds had been pulled down over her window, and she slammed the door to room-shaking volume.

"Okay you two, stay calm!" Rin wiped a few beads of sweat from the side of her head, twisted the key in the lock, and rushed over to wrap arms around both of them. "This kind of crisis happens sometimes, but it's always that same patient."

Neru glared at her own shoulders touching one of theirs, but otherwise shifted her attention to Rin again. "Have you seen this before?"

"No, it was all a legend to me...until I heard the story from one of the workers who brought that girl into the hospital when she was just a baby. He told me what she looked like; this escaped patient is definitely her!"

While the girls felt some level of the distress – Neru's being smaller of course –, Kaito smiled in wonder.

"She sounds cute. Pink and red really compliment each other-"

"No, we can't think about physical attraction at a time like this!"

Neru sighed again, and with a little force broke out of their weird...ugh...contact. While the other two discussed what they were going to do about the "crisis", she tuned them out and walked back over to her forgotten clipboard.

As "fascinating" as it would be to go on a wild chase for an escaped patient, she didn't have an interest for **running **and the like.

She had another plan; a plan that was going to make her manga practically based off a real event and maybe win a lot of special attention from even the harshest critics who sucked ass at their job!

"All I have to do is **sit here comfortably **and wait for the patient of theirs to come by." Neru moistened her lips a little thoughtfully. She looked over at the bench, then to Rin who was still standing there.

"You're not going to at least arm yourself?" Rin reached out like she was going to stop her somehow, but pulled her hand back in. She groaned. "Neru, it's not safe to be out in the open. Everyone who's seen her says that she has these huge wings that can knock you so far-"

"I don't care if she has teeth like a wolf or speed like a wild cat, I'm staying right here to wait for her."

"It's not safe! Look, Kaito's even taken the hint and he's waiting in the elevator for-"

"No, I'm sitting my ass here until this 'horrible beast' of yours stops on this floor."

By that point in the hopeless exchange, Rin was shaking and hugging her frame like the temperature just took a violent collapse.

"Look, I'm sure there's no threat in doing this. If I'm in danger, I've this to help me." With a quick lunge for her bag, Neru whipped out her special cellphone and held it before Rin's eyes. "This cellphone hasn't failed me before, and it's going to now. You go on and do your work, let Kaito follow you around like a puppy, and I'll stay behind."

Rin had one expression that Neru had never seen on her face. Despair.

But she didn't so anything else to combat her – genius – plan. Instead, Rin wore her expression of no hope and shuffled into the elevator. The last thing that she did before the doors close was again shudder like it was absolutely freezing.

There was still a strange coldness in the room, but Neru ignored that. She was so happy when the doors closed that she actually grinned and spun before falling back onto the bench.

"_I can at least write the outline while waiting for the patient to stumble along. If she's really been living in this place all her life, she should know it inside and out. So Rin is really exaggerating everything – you have to wait in life to see what's going to happen._"

Turning over a page, Neru almost felt bubbly about it. This was great! Finally she could start with the outline of the plot, and maybe apply some of the aspects of this hospital into the clockwork of the fictional place. She still had to do some thinking however.

Like was the main character going to be a guy or girl? What would the occupation be? Would the star of the story even be alive or just a ghost that wrecks havoc? It depended heavily on what genre, but all could be changed when she started drawing panels.

* * *

"Sir, I'm sorry to intrude..."

"What is it now?"

"Well, the security camera reveals footage of one-o-one successfully waking up to continue her work. But apparently there's been an escape from one of the patients – she's going down unnecessary floors looking for the escaped."

"That's fine. One-o-one has been programed to respond immediately to alerts, and we have no reason to worry about anything that happens."

"Yes, but do you think she can handle this herself? A one robot army does not sound effective."

"Are you questioning the makers of this modern age technology? I hope you're not."

Ah, I'm, I'm not! But shouldn't we awaken nine-o-six who's more skilled in combat?"

"Nine-o-six can't be disturbed. Now return to the security cameras so we can ensure no more chaos breaks out."

"But chaos is already happening! Workers are terrified, the patients are trying to get out and away from said chaos, the Kasane chick is running amok somewhere, pills are spilling out on the floor, and I'm sure in a statistically-satisfying way that our red light isn't effective because it could cause seizures in some-"

"Are you done?"

"Sir, there's reason to be concerned! Please, you have to awaken nine-o-six so she can sort everything out-"

"Very well, we'll take out the charger for nine-o-six. But you will be the one to do it; you should never raise your voice at the higher ranked."

"Okay that's lovely, now let's hurry..."

* * *

Neru's eyes flickered to the sides multiple times as she read what she had given for the outline. They moved quickly, seriously, and it felt as though the whites were starting to pop with red. Perhaps redder than the light that still flashed idiotically.

No one had stopped by on this floor, so the only ones keeping her company were the people in nearby rooms. Of course she could only hear them – most of them were terrified, but some who apparently had dark outlooks on life were talking about loving the fact the apocalypse was maybe taking place outside their rooms.

Finally, the especially lazy artist brushed the hair off her shoulder irritatedly. She didn't like the way this outline was coming along...it sounded so generic. The more she inspected it, the more hatred built and her fingers were unforgiving as they clawed her own hair out of its every day side ponytail.

Seriously, how could this kind of plot for the manga work and gather a fan base? "A mental hospital full of people who bounce between happy and horrifyingly depressed is run by a depraved woman." Doesn't sound bad so far? What about her next direction for it? "The woman never had contact with the loss of sanity before, but after accidentally shoving her brother right into the flame of a house fire when escaping now she lives with a broken mind along with several other-"

"That's just stupid! It doesn't even make any sense, freaking idiot!" She shoved her knuckles against her forehead in frustration, then let them fall painfully to the page on the board. "_It can't be saved with rewrites or a proper draft. It's the worst thing that I thought of in the previous minutes! Oh well, I brought my new eraser anyway._"

Her bag was still sitting next to her, and unzipped just enough for her hand to fit into from the side. Neru slipped it into the bag, and felt around for the large eraser.

Just her luck – it wasn't there.

There was only one compartment of her bag, and it was on the very bottom with the rest of her writing tools. She choked.

"_Wait, are you shitting me? I always carry it around when I'm forced to attend school!_"

Although maybe she didn't this time? No, no absolutely not! That was **impossible **for her!

Forget the flashy light and hysterical people – **this **was the real apocalyptic event that loomed over and threatened to end all!

"Damn it." That was all she could muster herself to growl in between gritting her teeth.

With that, Neru just placed her hands back down the clipboard that wasn't there. She would have to dirty herself, but at least she could wipe away some-

"What happened to the clipboard?!" It was a good question, but no answers were rising from the depths of nowhere to help.

As Neru cursed and cursed like this was the worst thing to happen all day, her keen ears picked up something else...a sound. This wasn't anyone over the intercom lamenting, or even the utterly miserable people locked up. No, it was a cutesy giggle.

"Who's making that noise?"

The giggle returned, but louder like the owner wasn't trying to be subtle. A notable thing about the pitch was that it managed to be childish, yet not annoying.

It was hard to truly explain; Neru was too busy fuming over the loss of her beloved eraser and clipboard.

"Show yourself, whoever you are. If you robbed me of my supplies, I'd kindly suggest you stop fucking around and bring it back."

By that point, one giggle exploded into two...and then ten! Whoever this person was continued to have a fest of giggles like this was the most hilarious thing she heard in her life. And it did sound like a "she" so Neru didn't feel uncomfortable with the labels.

At her sides, Neru's hands curled into shaking fists. This would be a time to bash in the head of someone who decided they could have fun jacking up her mind, except this time she just couldn't see the culprit! Neru looked in every direction; her head and neck were even hurting from it. Her eyes flickered right, then down, then left, then up, and there was no sight of someone!

"You can't see me?" A voice **flipping finally **questioned. It was on the line between high and low, but it was full of innocence. "I'm sorry, I thought we could have turned this into a game. I love hide and seek almost as much as charades..."

"Of course I can't see you!" Neru was nearly driving herself to insanity, bouncing around aimlessly and looking **everywhere **for the person. "Look, the only thing I care about is my supplies."

"You mean the clipboard and...whatever this squishy thing is?"

"It's an eraser."

"Ooooh, so it must erase things. Does this mean I could take off my whole face with it?"

A palm instantly shoved into Neru's own face. She didn't know how long she could handle this.

"Hmm, I don't want to give this stuff back."

Her eyes bulged so much that was she shocked they didn't explode right then and there. "What use could someone without a physical body have with an eraser and clipboard?"

"Hey, I do have a body! Anyway, I'm not giving this stuff back because I want to play with you."

Neru collapsed onto the bench again, head falling into her hands. She wished she could just go to sleep right now; it would be a hell of a lot more enjoyable than talking to this...God she didn't even know! It felt like a bad acid trip!

"What's your name, visitor?"

"Ugh, Neru."

"Interesting!"

"Um, what's your name?"

"Teto!"

"Cool, I guess."

Neru stretched out her legs over the edge of the bench, and awkwardly kept her thumbs twiddling as she looked through the flashy light. This so weird, but suddenly the lack of face to face talking with Teto was easing some of the stress from losing her su-

Oh God, the supplies!

"Teto, you stole my supplies just so I'd play a game with you!"

Teto giggled again. And it sounded so close by, but there wasn't any place she could be hiding- "I get soooo bored when I'm left in my room and my friends are gone. Originally, all I wanted to do was find them so we could play together. Then lights started flashing, and people ran away."

"How much did your mental state drop to send you here? …Did that sound insensitive?" Neru choked again, clutching the bench tight as warmth fell into the room. "Sorry, the missing supplies is just freaking me out right now!"

"Hey, it's fine Neru. Besides, I've been here for as long as I can remember."

That somehow rang a bell.

But before Neru had the chance to elaborate on the thought, grunting ensued from what she could only guess in the dark was Teto.

Then she looked down. She could see pale hands reaching out from underneath the bench, grasping the floor and dragging the rest of the body out into the open.

She couldn't help but gawk like she finally lost her mind.

Teto pulled herself out of what must have been her hiding place, and even through the flashing light Neru could make out her pink hair gathered in massive pigtails. Also, there were two shredded places in the back of her shirt. When she turned around and smiled at her, even her crimson eyes lit up with innocent thrill at finally seeing her target for hide and seek.

* * *

_**And so it continues on...**_

* * *

Yes, the visit coverage has two parts. But I don't think the next chapter will be incredibly long at least...I don't expect it to be.

It personally annoys me when it takes a million chapters just to have a time skip to another day. I mean, a one-shot where the days don't roll by on the calendar is fine because it's meant to be short. But when a multi-chapter is like that, that's the ultimate way to bore me to tears.

Obviously, I don't like that in my own work. So after the next part, there will be a timeskip. I wanted to point this out because I don't want any of you readers to be bored to tears like I am when I see a story like that.

Okay well, I leave you with this for now. The Chosen Storyteller is signing out now, baby! He will see you all in the next chapter, and more than likely be super late with writing in the first place!


	4. Opening Hell In The Hospital 2

I'm back. The story is back. We're all...hopefully better than before! **But probably not**! *Fireworks explode in background*

* * *

_**From The Opposite Side**_

_**Chapter 4: "Opening Hell In The Hospital 2"**_

* * *

Teto arose from the floor, and everything suddenly made too much sense to the baffled spectator before her. The hair, eyes, marks in the back of her shirt, everything was leading to a realization that this mere **teenager **was driving everyone to hysteria.

She was just a teenage girl. Neru assumed she must be around her age – going by looks. But there was also a child-like shine in her eyes that exploded into happy land when they held a gaze. Like she hadn't seen someone else her age before. Which sounded odd, not to mention.

What did she look like to this apparent patient? That was the one question swimming through her thoughts, and it wasn't going to end. All she could ponder was what could be going through her head at the same time. She wanted to play hide and seek? Well, why?

It could have been innocent. Nothing more than a person who wanted to relive childhood with a game.

It could have been a front. Maybe she really was terrifying and her "game" was gruesome and unspeakable.

"_Whatever she wants, it looks like she won't take no for an answer._" Neru didn't feel uncomfortable at the thought, but there was a tension in her hands without her eraser or clipboard. "_Teto may be smarter than she looks. If I do agree to this game, what will happen? Do I win the supplies?_"

"I don't want to be trouble." Teto mentioned, doing so barely over muttering. Her expression turned downcast in seconds. "No one will play with me when my friends are charging. They all scream when I look at them, and start flashing this weird light."

"You don't know why they're screaming or acting like idiots?"

She didn't care if she sounded a little insensitive again. Besides, Neru noted privately, the workers here needed to check their own mental states.

Teto rocked left and right on the back of her feet. She didn't have to say anything; the lack of shine in her eyes combined with her newly-discovered frown gave her reply away.

It was almost...sympathy-tugging. Neru choked at the thought. "_What would I have sympathy for?! I'm fucking light years away from knowing what it feels to want attention. I like that._"

While the rave light obnoxiously flashed all over the room, the alarm system wailed to the point everyone should have been deaf, there was almost a moment of peace. And yeah; peace while all of that chaos went down was illogical. But someone in that hall felt comfortable with a new face before them.

Teto bottled a little of her concern, literally brushed her palm over her mouth to remove the grown, and looked at this Neru person with hope.

"You look like an artist with that clipboard and eraser-stuff. If I give it back, would you draw something for me?"

"_AH! She's trying to look cute with that 'enlarged eyes' trick!_"

Neru scratched at her knuckles nervously, shuffled her feet, and appeared uneasy in general fashion. She hoped she wouldn't have to give a reply because this seemed...weird. Like, this girl was stealing her stuff just to lure her into a game. But all of a sudden she wants to have a drawing made? She needed to make up her mind.

"Maybe..."

"Maybe?! Neru, that would be so great!"

Neru stumbled over to the bench again, she needed to process the fact that someone **wanted **to see her drawings. They were **okay**, but nevertheless-ugh, this was going to be "interesting" in the stressful way.

* * *

"Teto! Teto, are you anywhere in this hall?!" There wasn't a reply. "**TETO**!"

The room shook a little, but otherwise the siren drowned out all of her screaming. Momo was almost touching the breaking point.

Hands roughly swept the fringe out of her eyes, her legs were starting to feel clunky and miserable to run with, and her neck...God...her neck was aching from yelling so much.

But it wouldn't do any good. Teto could hear so great, but even if she heard her screaming out every screw and wire...she doubted any positive outcome would ensue. Because she may be hearing her friend's voice, but that didn't change the fact workers were freaking out and rave lights were draining power from the whole country.

It was one of the lower floors she decided to search next. Honestly, Momo didn't know shit about where she was. But it didn't matter; this floor was home to some of the softest sofas. And she needed to rest at least one second.

Cleaning and sewing were simple to do. It was in her programing to excel at that because the human race was too lazy to do this themselves. That was fine in her opinion. But she didn't like having to respond with these built in "emergency features" especially because they were often enabled when Teto was involved.

"_I can't do this kind of stuff like Defoko! I may have the programs in my head, but that doesn't mean I can shoot lasers and contort myself like she can! Don't force me to be a soldier, and maybe I'll consider working for you people!_" On the day Momo was taken out of the shipping box and activated, that was the thought lingering in her mind. That was what she wanted to scream at the workers who didn't seem to understand like the ones back at the lab did.

But no, they wanted another Defoko in that aspect. Certainly not when it came to the drive to do cleaning and sewing, however.

Every time Teto got out, she was just overcome with the memories. Momo flopped down on the nearest sofa while holding her unresponsive legs tiredly. She didn't want to relieve the big thought that threatened to blurt out in appropriate times, but it was almost impossible to stop now.

"I'll try anyway." Momo coughed out, but she really didn't know who she was talking to. 'Breathing' deeper, she relaxed herself. "Just have to...dial for Defoko to help."

If Momo weren't almost in total wear down, she would have noticed the unfamiliar teenagers who were on the other end of the hall looking at her with worry. From their perspective, they could see a totally normal pink-haired lady collapsed on the sofa.

"**She's passed out!**" The boy shouted, utterly horrified by the sound of it. Momo barely registered it. "**We have to help her! This is- Get some water!**"

"But there's no fountain on this floor! Besides, what about the escaped patient?"

"**We'll deal with that, but first we have to make sure she's okay! She looks near death!**"

Momo groaned under her "breath", wondering if she really did look so bad. This was why she wished the people would take her off the charger earlier.

* * *

"Do you understand the rules?" Teto moved her head to the side, and once more her face lit up with a grin. It obviously didn't take much to make her jolly.

She was **almost **envious of that. But Neru shook the thought until it was out of her mind entirely. By that point, all she could do was nod and turn around to cover her eyes.

If anyone asked; she never lowered herself to a childish level like this. But it seemed to be the only way to both win her supplies back, and get information about the hospital's inner workings.

Teto's "rules" for hide and seek were what she remembered as a kid, so she wasn't considered about understanding them at all. It was basic "you count, I hide, you find me". Teto was going to hide somewhere on that floor, and if she could be found under a time limit of twenty-nine minutes then she would give back the supplies and describe what the hospital was like.

So Neru tried to relax her shoulders, lightly press her palms against her eyes, and count out loud.

Behind her, Teto muffled a giddy laughter fit with her hand as she looked around eagerly for a good spot. She could use the bench again, but Neru had seen her before...so that was out. She needed to be creative.

"Ten...nine...eight..."

"_This floor doesn't have a lot of places to hide. Have I doomed myself?!_" Teto whipped her head around, painfully, and frantically searched. "_The only good places are the underside of the bench, and some of the rooms of other people. But I don't want to intrude when this noise is upsetting them! Uh...there must be a place..._"

"Seven...six...five..."

Teto wasn't laughing anymore. She bolted down the hall, feet loud but not even carrying over the alarm noise. As Neru's counting faded into the distance, she practically ripped a knob from a door as she tried to unearth her hiding spot.

"Four! Three! Two! One! Blah! Come out wherever you are." Neru turned with a flourish, eyes rapidly going left and right in search of the girl.

"You'll never find me! I adapt very good to new games!"

The voice of Teto was shouted above the noise for one moment, but then vanished as soon as it came.

Neru quirked one of her eyebrows. She usually wasn't good with judging distance of sounds, but if she thought about it deeper – that voice sounded like it was farther away than it had been.

She looked down at her cellphone, and two minutes passed since the game was declared.

Neru picked up her pace and walked down the hall hastily, eyes still going left and right not leaving any area untouched. Finding her was important, and she really did need the prizes held hostage.

Before she could reach the sixth door on the right, something caught her eye. It looked like the ruffled hem of a skirt...wait...really?

Her eyes almost jumped out in the complete horror. "Are you even trying?!"

"What do you mean?"

"Your clothes! Geez, you're sticking out from a crack in the door!"

Teto gasped, and it really did sound like it was from the cleaning closet. The door was thrown open soon after, revealing her standing there and smiling nervously as she freed the edge from a screw on the door.

Neru doubled over, hands almost ripping out her hair. "This** isn't** how it works. The one hiding has to be really sneaky when it comes to their chosen spot!"  
"But it was fun."

"Fun?! That game lasted..." Time to whip out the phone. And eagerly, that was what Neru did. "Four minutes! I don't feel really accomplished after that."

"Maybe, but this is only the first time I've played the game~" Teto swayed on her feet, and sang like there was nothing horrifying about the screw up. She even reached into one of her sleeves and pulled out the damn eraser. "The reason why I was looking for my friends in the first place was so I could test the game out with them. But of course, they're not here. Now I know how to properly do it – and it's all thanks to you!"

Neru fell back to the wall, utter "what the fuck" all over her face. This wasn't a game, was it? If it were, why was this so loose about how it properly worked? For some reason, she had the idea children screwing up the proper playing form would have a better time.

But hey; Teto was giggling on cloud nine over all of this. Yeah, now she was convinced it didn't take much to send her into an idealistic world of fun and wonder.

* * *

"Have you located the demon girl? This is not the time to slack off!" The annoying voice of that gray-haired tyrant burst through her headphones. "You were pulled off the charger for a reason, nine-o-six!"

Defoko inhaled some of the oil she found anyhow. It was just sitting around in the supply closet, so it was hers for the taking. She couldn't really focus with the screeching coming through, however.

So, eyes opening again only to narrow with irritation, Defoko reached for the headphones and threw them on the floor. But before she continued with her drink, she lifted a foot and slammed it repeatedly on the disturbance.

Except for the wailing siren, everything else was peaceful once more. She even cracked a smile as her drink loosened some of those stiff gears that no one else bothered to fix.

* * *

Neru's heart pounded as she shifted a little further into the room of another patient. The guy in here could be seen sleeping like a baby in a tangled wreck of blankets, so she didn't have to worry about disturbing him. But still, she wouldn't put it past Teto to hide in a dangerous location.

She tried to get in, then get out without a problem. When she first approached the door, she could feel that familiar chill. It almost caused her to wonder if feeling the temperature descend meant Teto had been there.

"_No, that's a cliché thought._" Came the mental scolding. Silently, her fist gave a smack to the top of her head. "_Just...carefully avoid that muscular guy, and we're good. Those arm muscles that look like they could do good strangling damage...oh no..._"

Come on, it wasn't going off the deep end to consider the people here may have violent reactions if pissed off. Neru wasn't a coward before – please believe us –, but this was really stressful. She held her breath, and continued walking on toes to the bathroom nearby.

Upon opening the door, she was greeted by a small room that wouldn't look out of place in an ordinary hospital. There was tile all over the place, agreeable bland colors, and typical things one would expect to see in a bathroom. But the chill in here was reaching a higher point, and Neru couldn't stop herself from smirking like she was winning.

What she was winning, she honestly had no idea. By this point, why should she question anything? Here she was a teenager, and a lazy one at that, playing physical games with someone who may or may not rip her tongue out when this was all over.

"_She must be behind the shower curtain! It's another cliché!_" Like she was the lead in a horror film, Neru lined herself up with the aforementioned curtain. She took a breath, and reached out. "_Got you now...!_"

Whoosh, the curtain was pulled aside with a flourish.

Neru's hand fell back to her side, and the foreign expression on her face was swallowed until gone by stoicism.

"Got you!"

The next thing Neru knew, she was pulled by strong arms around her ribs. She tried not to shout, and instead grunted loudly when she stepped backward into the chest of someone else.

This "someone else" also giggled rather girlishly, but also with an unexplained trace of giddiness.

Teto released her soon enough, thankfully. There certainly were many wonders about that strength for her otherwise skinny appearance. But that wasn't thought upon for too long.

Neru smoothed those irritating creases in her shirt, hurriedly redirected her eyes back to the joyous girl, and almost cracked another smile.

"You are getting a little better at the game. But when you shouted, that killed the illusion."

Teto paused mid lifting her arms in victory, and both fell to her sides as she looked on worriedly.

Again, a gulp audibly rose from Neru. "Don't worry! Don't worry; you aren't a hopeless case about the game anymore!" When Teto's eyes sparkled again in combination with her smile returning, Neru composed herself. "Sorry for giving you the wrong idea. There's not many times I'll compliment someone **genuinely**."

"Why the apologies?!" Teto's fists lifted to the air, and a sudden flash of complete seriousness revealed the possibility on her face. "Momo is always too scared to tell me the truth, and Defoko will the skip the topic altogether! You're in the right for giving the proper scolding for me! So...don't stop. If you're interested, I'd like to hear more criticisms..."

That logic seemed kind of flawed. But it reminded Neru of something – something hazy and out of touch. All she could hope for was that she'd fully understand eventually, but it obviously would not be now.

With that, Neru was more than blissful in leading Teto out of the hazardous room and giving her a full critique on her playing of the game. It dragged on, but Teto remained glowing with fiery passion about a kid's game so it's not like she felt bad about it.

Besides, this was almost really relaxing. Neru kind of hoped that it would take all day for those idiots to locate the escaped patient. If her new-found "friends" from school didn't return, oh well.

* * *

The excessive stiffening of her limbs wasn't a common occurrence, but it happened now and then. She never could pin down whether this was a flaw in her programming, or if it was being taken off the charge too early.

Whatever the reason, Momo wanted to scream profanity to the ceiling.

"Stay calm!" The girl demanded fearfully. It was strange to not hear a human give a proper order in that kind of tone. "Once we fix you up, we're going to evacuate together. You don't have to worry about the escaped patient, or anything like that!"

"But the escaped patient is-"

The boy leaped over to the sofa, and Momo cringed as he loomed over looking almost like she could burst into tears.

"Rin over here has been working in this hospital for a little while! She's going to be able to lead us to a tunnel, or something! Please, don't die! You're too pretty to die..."

Momo flung herself up into a proper sitting position. Her legs and arms still ached and provided excess weight, but she still mad enough energy to give her special glare of caution – or 'doe eyes' as Defoko had called them once –.

"I'm okay. Please don't worry about me, I..." Momo looked over to Rin, more specifically a familiar coat she wore. Tension in her shoulders eased a little. "Really, I was just resting for **one second**. It was never my intention to slack off from the mission."

"Forget about a 'mission'!" The boy rushed to her side when she tried to slide off the sofa.

Even Rin bounced over, and this was what shocked Momo. Why was she acting like this? She obviously was a member of the staff, so it wouldn't come as a weird thing that this robot didn't need too much lying down time.

Did she even know about them?

Whatever the case, Momo felt herself get a little agitated. She pushed the two aside, probably more painfully than intended, and quickly whirled away from them.

"Really, you don't have to help me! They took me off the charger too early, and I **need **to find Teto..."

Rin and Kaito lifted themselves from the sprawled positions on the sofa. Both looked a little stunned from the unexpected strength. But otherwise, Kaito at least walked too close for comfort and clasped her shoulder.

"Are you looking for that escaped patient?"

Momo froze in her tracks, eyes narrowing as frustration boiled. "_How can these two make me want to slap them? I shouldn't feel this way...but Teto...the mission...cleaning duty...where the heck is Defoko right now?! Geez, I need her help!_"

Rin stepped over too, and she watched worriedly as Momo began to tap furiously at the back of her neck. She hoped they weren't being a disturbance, but she didn't look like she was in the condition to go on the hunt for this one girl. If she would go with them, they could reach safety.

"Just come with us. We'll help keep you on your feet, and along the way get some water..."

* * *

"You can't hide forever!" Neru kind-of-gracefully swerved the edge of the entrance to the scary guy's room, then used her keen eyes to scan the rest of the floor. "Whenever you're close, the temperature lowers – I'm so going to use that to my advantage!"

"Ack! How did you find out about the temperature change?"

Neru almost felt smart for a second. She hurriedly wiped a growing smile of pride with her sleeve, then continued her jogging toward the elevator.

"Well...that doesn't matter~" What was with everyone and sing song? No matter, Teto could be overheard giggling like a crafty imp again. "I will let you in on a hint, seeing as you're so confident all of a sudden. The reason you feel this temperature may just be in your head. Kind of like a song I once heard about an emotional man who constantly feels the presence of his ex."

Neru paused entirely, merely a step away from the elevator. "How does a song about stupid people relate to the chill you give off? And, wait, how do you know you do that?"

The reply wasn't prompt this time. Neru even heard a few thoughtful hmms somewhere in the pause. But she still pressed the button for the elevator anyhow, despite the chill not in her face yet.

Finally, when the elevator made a ding, Teto sighed dramatically and louder than appropriate.

"How am I to know everything about myself? There's many things I can't understand, but in the end...I really don't bother. If I have more strength, sight, and smell than anyone else I don't believe it's worth thinking about."

"That doesn't answer my question. I want to know a, uh, how about a **theory **for how it happens?"

Again, a series of hmms ensued to pad out the time. The elevator was empty, so Neru ignored that with a blank expression and turned away.

"Theories, you say? I love those! I love putting a bet on something from the outside, then finding out whether I'm right or wrong! Well most of the time I'm wrong, but what does that matter? They're so fun."

Neru didn't know how she managed, but she held back a rude snort. Thankfully, the other player couldn't see her mouth wrinkle with another smirk.

Maybe she shouldn't have found it funny that Teto was so easy to impress.

"_I'm such a jerk, and never stop being proud of it. But this girl doesn't seem to understand what it means to not be literal. You know, ugh, she's got to be idealistic and act like there's no other option._"

Oh, so many people at her school would take advantage of such a personality. Sex wouldn't be getting in the way of that, mind you along with the curious stare.

"_Could it be a good thing that she doesn't live a normal life? From what I can tell, no one would let her set foot into a classroom or even breathe in their direction._"

Curiosity. Neru felt a little of this mysterious feeling slip into her mood...and it was really awkward. Many questions floated into her thoughts by that point, and she doubted the girl would have the time to answer every one. This was odd. At first, she only wanted to know about the hospital.

"_But it couldn't be __**weird **__to be curious about her. She does have an entirely different world than I could dream of. No amount of drugs can conjure this shit!_"

"Ooooh, I must be hiding so good." The voice bounced across the walls once more, and Teto was obviously feeling like a winner. "You'll never be able to find me, Neru! Haha, you may as well give up!"

"Any other time? Of course I would give up." Neru turned around in a flash of a second, shoving aside bookshelves and any form of decoration as she did so. "But if I don't find you and finish the game, I'm not going to feel accomplished. You shouldn't get cocky so early!"

"Fine, but I still haven't been found. If you can't find me in seven minutes, I win~ I get to keep your supplies, and you'll have to get me tons of ice cream from the cafeteria."

"Wait, when did I promise to give you ice cream?!"

"Oops, I may have forgotten...?"

Neru couldn't resist the prompt eye roll. Finally, she voiced the one thought that had been on the mind since first exchange: "You must have been taught by the master of all trolls. I feel like I've been on the internet now."

"Well I don't know what all of that implies, but are you trying to say I'm mean?"

"Sorta. But if you were trolling, there would be room to say you're doing it just for a laugh. That is the case, right? You're screwing with me so you can escape the real world?"

Teto was bizarrely silent after this. Even when Neru called out, wondering if she suddenly died, she wouldn't reply.

"_What? Am I the bad guy? I don't think my style of speech is __**that **__strong..._"

Neru backed away from the wastebasket she had been combing. She no longer felt any form of a chill, and all trace of that previous happiness in the air seemed to leave with it. She was almost worried.

"Teto? Come on, are you...offended?"

No answer. But keep trying, Neru.

"Come on, I'm not- Do I need to apologize? I've never been good with that sort of thing – I need a cue to know when to say the Two Big Words about that whole...apologizing...topic."

* * *

"The awkward blonde won't care if you leave her. Come on, it's best we end this moronic search for you." Defoko muttered in her usual, quiet voice. Even though she was serious, even her face looked utterly uninterested.

So Teto could speak again, Defoko removed her hand from her mouth. The two were pressed uncomfortably against each other and the wall in this air conditioning control room. But that obviously didn't matter to her friend – Teto was glowering at her in a way she usually didn't.

"Why would you try and restrain me?" Teto whirled around angrily, and a familiar glint passed through them. Defoko paid that no mind; she looked down at her sleeve pulled over her hand. "I was having a good time playing hide and seek! I wanted to play with you and Momo before all of this weird stuff happened, but you were too busy charging!"

Defoko waited until she was finished. She watched as her friend huffed and grasped at the air like she couldn't believe this world. But in the end, she crashed against her chest and she caught her out of habit and rubbed her back.

"_You've never had control when angry._" But it was something Teto didn't need to know. Perhaps...not ever.

Defoko listened as her whines faded away. Then with her words chosen carefully during all of this time, she spoke and hoped it would calm her down entirely.

"We were going to check on you before Momo crashed while on the job. It was during setting her up for the process that I realized my power was drained too. I know I'm not hard-working, but I know my limits all the same."

"I understand that part." Teto grunted against her body. To properly hear her, Defoko pulled her away and let her do the balancing. "What I don't get is that you sneaked up on me like an attack. Why would you do this just to take me back to my room? Am I in that much trouble?!"

The more she rambled, the more she sounded frantic and afraid. Defoko swore this was one of those times that she was actually "surprised" at a new discovery. Her own eyes even **opened slightly wider**.

"I'm actually enjoying myself with Neru." Teto threw out her pointer to the exit door into the hall, all trace of fear flew away like the flip of a switch. "She is from the outside world! She's been helping me with this game, and she's going to draw something for me afterward! Please don't drag me back I- I want to at least send her off on a good note."

Defoko's eyes remained a little wider than usual, and that was a massive change for her face. She usually had her eyelids almost closed entirely, hinting at no interest in anything outside of her own world.

Teto swayed on her feet, resembling a child who was being stared down by a parent in serious mode. She clasped her hands, hid her eyes beneath hair starting to fall into her face, and generally Defoko wondered if she was doing this on purpose. Hey, even friends cannot know **everything **about each other.

In the end, Defoko didn't give in. She stepped closer, one hand outstretching for her to see the panel of outer "skin" shift toward the very edge of it.

"Look at this stupid, dramatic note Momo sent to me. Do you really think we can stay away from the search party any longer? It's bad enough that I had to laser my way through walls just to get here."

Teto cringed, but looked down at the note on the computer screen inside Defoko's palm. Yes, that was a mere common sight for her. It was strange at first, but now it meant trouble because Momo always left freak out messages.

**Hurry and find Teto! I don't give a flying flip if you're too tired or thirsty to do anything – I am going to be the one in control this time!**

**Don't say I'm just acting ridiculous, Defoko! Don't even say it! You know I'm just protective! Besides, one of the apparent new employees and a friend of hers are mistaking me for a human and think I need medical help. Regretfully, I worked myself too much after all. Okay, you can tease me about it later all you want to!**

**TAKE TETO, AND BRING HER BACK TO HER ROOM SAFELY! PLEASE, I DON'T WANT TO SEE HER BE GIVEN KNOCK OUT DRUGS OR A NEEDLE, AND PLEASE, CERTAINLY NOT A BLOW TO THE HEAD! I MEAN, THE LAST TIME I SAW AN ESCAPED PATIENT GET KNOCKED OUT WAS HORRIFY-**

"I can't be sure how much longer this goes on. But right here; the scrolling bar is really small." Defoko deleted the message, shoved her panel of 'skin' back over, and then took the liberty to walk over to the door. "This should be no different than other times you've sneaked out. Before she starts making her circuits burst into flame, we need to alert everyone you've been found."

Even though she cracked open the door and let full light slip inside again, Teto remained standing in the center of the cramped room with her back toward her. She was oddly silent, and yes that was a bad sign when she did not have a rapid reply.

"This...'Neru' can't be anything more than another student on a psychology assignment. I sense this won't be the last time any of us see her." Defoko offered this, not really believing it. But she forced a sincere tone and that was about it. Don't ask for a smile – it's unreasonable.

Teto wouldn't look at her, however. But in the light filtering inside, it was easy to see that her arms were flat against her sides and her knuckles trembled slightly.

"_No, we don't need THIS on top of the rest of my forced mission-_"

Finally, Teto spun around and looked at her with such fiery...pathetic, tearing eyes.

No, that would ruin every- She was going a little too low with this. Defoko tried to shield her eyes – hopefully a arm clasped to her eyes would keep her in the safe zone.

But Teto only walked closer, and she peeled that arm away. Now she was forced to look into her eyes, and she was rather positive that the world must be ready to split in two.

"I don't mean that you have to never see her again. If she really is a student, then...you know..." The more stoic one usually could keep her voice from sounding above a muttering tone. But as her words went on, her voice lifted a pitch.

That did not even seem possible before.

"Please, cooperate with us. The less you're out in the open, the less I have to listen to the security system malfunction to the point of world destruction."

"But I don't want to!"

"This is not a matter of what anyone wants."

"Maybe, however! I haven't gotten to play this much with someone from outside of the hospital; it's giving me this rush of joy and wonder! There are so many questions I want to ask her."

"If you don't cooperate, you know that dick in the main office is going to send a signal for me and Momo to use force. Personally, I hate it when I'm taken over to do more work than I was programed for. Also, I don't want to see you get hurt."

"You said none of this was a matter of what anyone wants!" Teto suddenly bolted from her side, and she effortlessly pulled the heavy door open further. "Try and stop me, Defoko. Let's see whether or not you can fight against that 'programing' of yours!"

Feeling like an emotional wreck, Teto rushed out of the room and back into the hall. Where was she going? Well, she believed the game would have to be abandoned at that point, hopefully she could whisk Neru away to a place in the hospital where **no one** would find them.

"_But Teto-! Ugh, if he doesn't want lasers in his face...he won't resort to that stupid mode._"

* * *

"It's been a long time. I don't think the robots managed to find that Kasane chick."

"Wrong, again. One-o-one gave me a report about the process ten minutes ago."

"Then why didn't you tell anyone about it?!"

"Patience. If we're patient, and calm, we can have better results about this situation.

"So what are you going to do now, brilliant strategist?"

"One-o-one is nearly drained again, so it won't be long before she passes out. Thankfully, nine-o-six is still in enough shape to write a message, so she can go into her 'final form'."

"Final form?! I feel like that's a corny form to be in, but what else can we do?"

* * *

Neru fanned her face, happy to feel a little more chill from this wall. It wasn't the same one she felt when Teto was around, but seeing as the game seemed to be paused there was nothing else she could do. It did feel good to cool off after so much exercise, however.

Before she could mull over what to do next, **SLAM**, the door to that room smacked into the wall. Neru almost fell over, but did remain weak on her feet as she looked over at the two girls leaving. Wait a second, one of them was Teto.

"Teto, what are you doing out in the open-" Neru sliced her sentence off before she could bother asking. Because the temperature jumped from comfortable, all the way to boiling when she caught a glimpse of the second girl.

The other girl was delicate looking on the surface, but she emitted a powerful heat that...honestly by this point Neru wasn't horrified of the apparent fact people could do that. The girl had purple hair, eyes the same color, and dressed almost like a student.

But there was something unsettling, and it wasn't the hair or eye color. It was the way her arms stretched out, and from beneath her sleeves really long and apparently conscious thick wires shot forth waving about like something out of a horror movie.

Otherwise, the girl had a blank expression that implied she didn't give a shit about the...unusual additions to her arms. Actually, she almost looked like she had seen enough to not care about the strange things in life.

"What the hell...?!" Neru could only sputter that as she pointed at the, uh, new experience for her eyes.

"There's not enough time to explain, not now anyway." Teto switched to looking dark for a second, almost angry. But she threw off that feeling, and lowered her head with defeat. "Okay, you all win! We didn't need fancy drama just to take me back to my room...I would have gone if Mr. Hospital Operator just gave me some steaming bread or an extra storage card."

Neru still looked on, absolutely rooted to where she stood and still pointing. Come on, was she really expected to say something about any of that? If she did, it would only make it worse for everyone.

With the target surrendering, Defoko saw no reason to not prolong the moment further. She hated this mode, she really didn't want to use these "fancy" defense measures just to escort her back to a room. In this mode, she couldn't register the emotions on Teto's face or the visitor's moment of "what the fuck".

All she saw was a willing target, so she let the extra wiring shoot forth at blinding speed to wrap around the offered wrists held out.

But it was Teto all the same so...there was enough of an instinct to soften the grip. Just a little.

Neru's eyes remained almost closed entirely, no particular thought visible on her face as she tried to take in and overall fail horribly in finding an opinion in the first place.

But when she snapped out of it, that was when she caught sight of Teto lifting her head to send a hopefully-reassuring grin. Kind of like she was saying that she would be okay, and these bindings on her wrists weren't as painful as they looked.

"Wait!"

Neither the unidentified or robot girl could begin to walk away. Neru leaned closer to them, and after such an outburst her face struggled to remain calm and not worried she was going to ruin this moment.

"Um, see, about this whole situation..." Oh yes; she was going to ruin it to the point of no return. Still, Neru continued babbling with hands waving around. "She doesn't seem to be a harmful person, so why don't you let her go? I mean, she seems playful. Uh, a little of a troll however. But! Yeah you should let her go."

"It's okay." Teto pulled at the bindings a little more. Nervous chuckles slipped out. "This always happens. Well, I don't know why Defoko's eyes are blanker than usual..."

"You shouldn't let these people capture you just to take you back to a room!"

"It's fine. We're friends."

"It doesn't matter! God, I don't understand life..."

Teto blinked repeatedly, complete bewilderment across her face by that point. She looked down at the usual sight of her hands captured, and then Neru waving her arms out and back like a bird taking flight.

Could there be something morally-upsetting about that?

"_Why? It does confuse me, but it's always been like this. The outside must be really different than it is here, I guess?_"

"Teto, let's hurry." Defoko finally muttered, her voice even more emotionless than usual.

It didn't seem right. Defoko did mention going into another mode, but was this it? Having really tight wires for capturing and a really computerized voice? Somehow, that sounded less shocking than it should be in her head.

"Let me finish with Neru first."

Neru's eyes snapped open again. She really needed to make sure they didn't dry out from all of this.

"Neru," Teto smiled again, being a whirlwind of emotions today, she spun as best as she could and then cocked her head to the side with bursting energy. "The time we played together was fun! I want to do it again, and also get a drawing from you."

"But you never gave me back-"

"Oh! You're right...well...sorry."

Neru saw her happiness falter, she gasped accidentally and hurriedly waved her hands. "You know, **maybe **I overreacted about you taking the supplies! If tell I Mom I lost the clipboard and eraser, maybe she'll give me enough money to get more. So it's not a loss. She does mention that the art I do is some form of exercise at the very least."

"That's great! When you have the other things, you should come back to the hospital!" Teto excitedly jumped and tried to lean over- the wires prevented her from attempting any form of contact.

Neru tore her eyes away from the pure happiness emitting from Teto, and instead switched them to her shoes. Could she really come back here? The place was crazy, and she didn't even know what happened to Rin and Kaito during all of this.

Defoko stopped tapping at the back of her neck. As soon as she did this, the siren and light finally ceased. Neru swore she heard at least a hundred relieved breaths be released at once.

"As long as you two don't wander over the hospital and cause end-of-the-world chaos, you're free to see each other again." Defoko looked away, hoping that no one noticed her regular voice slip back in despite this mode still being activated.

No one seemed to notice, however.

Neru stopped awkwardly staring at the ground. But with her eyes seemingly trapped between forcefully closed and trying to reveal emotion, she quietly uttered a "**maybe**" to the idea.

"I'll be positive about that." Teto grinned once more – perhaps that was the best expression she could have.

* * *

All of a sudden, all of the wailing and the flashing came to a halt. The panel to the shelter was pushed open, and Rin stuck her head out from it.

"I think they found the patient after all. We're safe."

Rin grunted and struggled, but she managed to leap onto the ladder again and then climb to the top. When she was finally out of the stuffy shelter and into the hospital lobby again, she breathed a sigh of relief just like many before.

"It's a good thing that the hot employee told us about this. But I wonder if she's okay after running off like that..." Kaito managed to say between huffs and struggling for breath. He weakly grasped the rungs and made his way up.

Somehow, he always thought that being squished against a girl in a small location would be...less painful for both parties. Excitement was just a fantasy, right?

When he was finally to the surface, and both were finished happily accepting air into their lungs, a curious silence filled the room. It wasn't just because all visitors that were previously in the lobby two hours ago had vanished and left furniture turned over, but also because they didn't recall seeing the pink-haired girl who called herself a mere employee and ran off.

First things first: she was not wearing one of those coats over her clothes.

Secondly: she was dressed like a maid for some reason. That always means trouble.

Final note: the girl said last minute that she would follow them through the network of tunnels to the safety zone, but they never heard from her again.

"Unless we're stupid, I don't think she actually followed us." Rin finally spoke the thought. It was hard to think she could be considered an idiot, but she carried on as she looked about the room. "But if the patient was found, it may be best to continue with life."

"So what happens now?" Kaito dared to ask.

Yes, he was still disappointed that the "employee" didn't join them. Her being crushed up in there with them would have made it enjoyable, even if slightly.

"The other patients should be really shaken by the random drama." Rin pulled the collar high for some reason on her coat, then epically swished it as she turned. "Come on, if you want to then you can help!"

"Hey, I don't mind after all of that. The lack of air messed with my head." Kaito took hold of her offered hand, then let her 'whisk them away' to the elevator again. "Rin, I have a request..."

Rin stopped long enough to send him a puzzled look.

So Kaito took the chance to smile enthusiastically, and give his request. "We should bring Meiko, Luka, Miku, and Haku next time. As long as there's no more random drama, I think they would enjoy checking this place out too!"

"...That's a good idea! Okay, when we find Neru again I'll ask her about that."

* * *

_**And so it continues on...**_

* * *

Well, the chapter was longer than I planned to begin with. Sorry if that went on too long, I just...I'm bad about length. I think my chapters will either be too short or too long, and there's no real middle.

I didn't proofread any of this, by the way. This chapter was written in times where I was about to leave, but wanted to get what I planned on the document before it slipped my mind and I became lazy. So yeah, there's more than likely typos and awkward wording galore. But hey, I'm not going to act proud about my grasp of English – I know it sucks ass.

Anyhow, it's kind of good to be back with the story. I don't have a proper updating schedule, so I guess...just keep your eyes out for the next! Hopefully, HOPEFULLY I won't be too late!

Well, The Chosen Storyteller is signing out now~


	5. The Opening To Both Worlds

_**From The Opposite Side**_

_**Chapter 5: "The Opening To Both Worlds"**_

* * *

"_I went somewhere crazy today."_

"_Really? You look pale; I hope you haven't been in any trouble after school again. The last time I found you passed out near the trash cans, I almost had a panic attack!"_

"_No, it's nothing like that. But...well...there were people with me-"_

"_Neru!"_

"_Wh-?"_

"_Neru, you went out with some classmates?"_

"_Kind of. This girl, Rin, she invited me and an airhead guy to her workplace-"_

"_That's wonderful! You're actually becoming a sociable person, Neru! I'm so happy I-I don't know what to do..."_

"_Mom! I'm not friends with them, or anything like that."_

"_But you will be if you get to know these two better. If this girl let you see where she works, she must think you're a trustworthy person. After all, I find that the younger generation of today are too obsessed with how much money each other has."_

"_Yeah, but more importantly! She works at a mental hospital."_

"_That's lovely."_

"_What?!"_

"_Going by your tone, it sounds like you had a fun time with this 'Rin' and her other friend. I'm happy for you Sweetie, truly. These could be your very first friends."_

"_Ick, I don't know about that. But again, more importantly, I had a strange encounter at the place. It was with this younger patient who lives there, and she's supposedly an evil beast that made everyone shine a rave light and some wailing sirens!"_

"_...I hope that was just a movie you saw."_

"_Mom, I swear that it happened."_

"_...So, I brought some leftovers from the restaurant..."_

With a soft tap, the pencil fell to the desk. It rolled off until meeting the floor near her foot, but Neru ignored that and buried her face into her hands feeling very screwed up all of a sudden.

The "conversation" with her mother was still going through her thoughts occasionally. It wasn't even a conversation; it was mostly Mom gushing about her gaining a social life, and her failing to point out she was possibly in danger but somehow didn't get injured in the slightest.

Maybe there were worse times, and it didn't matter by this point. Like that time she passed out near the school's dumpster. That was certainly an experience, and it was all thanks to the heat wave.

She would have thought that the fact she got involved in some freaky shit would concern her. However, that was two days ago.

Ever since, Mom would go to the restaurant and return at the same time like nothing changed. She still smiled cheerfully, but scowled appropriately when she argued that she didn't think the day was worth spending at school. She never talked about what may have happened at the hospital.

However, there was one topic that she didn't mind replaying like it should be on the world headlines.

"_You should invite Rin and Kaito to the restaurant sometime. With the family atmosphere, you won't have to feel pressured to talk about modern day sex and drug issues."_

"_Please, invite them? I'd rather we keep a distance now that we've met."_

"_But your eyes were smiling when you talked about them. Just by letting you tag along like that, it certainly sounds as though they've no problem with you."_

"_I was not smiling through my eyes! Eyes aren't that big, right? Anyway..."_

"_You're free to think otherwise, but I did see a hint of something different. That's all the comfort I need, Neru."_

"_Anyway! There's no way I can talk to them if I go back to school! Rin is supposedly studying languages, and Kaito more than likely buries himself in games all night!"_

"_Well, I don't see a problem with that."_

"_Huh...?!"_

"_Try this perspective: Rin could help you with studying, seeing as she is tackling more than one language. Kaito shares your interest in gaming. Sorry to disagree, but I can't see how it's not possible to get along with them."_

"_I just remembered I...! The teapot is going to explode...!"  
"But you just put it on the-"_

"I don't need friends. I've lived a good seventeen years without needing that!" Neru's shoulders trembled and ached as she leaned over the desk and pressed her forehead into the paper lying there. "I'm all kinds of awkward anyway; there's no way anyone on this planet would look past that. If they did, is there anything to enjoy?"

The thought was **disgusting**. Friendship. It's just a...glorified excuse for people to take advantage of each others' good deeds, right? Since when does that ever last beyond a week? She would always see people becoming friends in games or anime, then they're torn apart because one of the parties starts to act like a whiny bitch about something.

If anyone were to whine, it would be her. Mom wouldn't be squealing over the "friendship" when she saw her being rejected because she couldn't help whining or uttering too many sarcastic remarks.

What did it mean to have someone from the outside enjoy her company? Obviously, she had a parent in her life but...that was it. Parents naturally have a bond with their children, even if they want nothing to do with them in the first place. There's always blood to link them back together.

But wouldn't it be weird to live a life where she had both parents? If she had a father, some optional siblings, and a reasonable social circle of friends? She couldn't even begin to process this picture.

Maybe she shouldn't have given in to the world. If she hadn't let her curiosity win the round, would she still debate the idea of bonds?

Whatever the case, Neru picked up her pencil again. Her free hand pressed down on a curling edge of the paper, and she began to sketch a few lines to make a building. If she was going to keep her goal on that manga, she needed to begin with the setting of most events. A mental hospital, if you will.

* * *

A few raps ensued from the other side of the door. "Are you all finished with your bath? Defoko and I brought something special for you~"

Teto huffed under her breath, and didn't respond to the alert at all. She just sank a little lower into the steaming water, intentionally forgetting that either were there.

But after several seconds, the raps grew louder and almost hysterical. "You're not angry, are you? I'm sorry for what happened, but you've never ignored us for more than a few hours!" Now, the raps turned into smacks as metal collided with more metal. "Teto, please! It was never our intention to go into such a dramatic mode, and you're well aware of it! Come on, give us permission to see you!"

"Forget the pleas." Defoko interjecting, do doubt. In that moment, she was probably wearing her expression of no damns. "If she doesn't want to see us, she doesn't have to. In a way, I can understand why she needs to blow off steam."

"Why would she be angry? We couldn't control ourselves; the management of the hospital was the real-"

"I said forget it. She will come around after she sorts out her emotions, and realizes that it won't be the last time she had someone from the outside to play with." Defoko paused to snort a little rudely, then there was the slight sound of something else scraping metal. "In a way she's similar to you, Momo. Getting too carried away with emotions, being stubborn, I'm shocked you're not-"

The splash of Teto's hand falling back into the water cut her off. To their ears, it sounded as though this interruption was her way of saying that she was not going to deal with their shit tonight. Not until she could properly sooth her emotions and forgive them and the hospital for taking away her fun.

"_They don't have to listen to their internal programming. That one time when a flood occurred, Momo actually rejected the mission to save all of the computers! She sacrificed computers for the sake of throwing herself into the water to rebuild the place water was seeping into! So I know rebelling can happen. You're just choosing when and not!_"

Could she really stay angry and hurt about her friends' actions, however? It happened days ago, and by this point she usually forgot about the topic anyway. Teto wasn't the type to nurse a grudge, but she didn't like sweeping things under the met like it was no problem either.

At that point, she couldn't decide if she was going to offer forgiveness or make them realize they can rebel against what they're programmed to obey.

"Are you two still there?"

"Yes."

Teto pressed her hand to her forehead, all of a sudden needing to nurse some of the horrible pain. It was just another headache that she got when listening to music too long – it was amazing that she could experience one of these from stress alone.

In the end, she couldn't stop herself from being upset with them. Even if she disagreed with their programming, they were all close. And...how could she let them stay there without a proper end to their suspense?

"You can come in. I'm finished with the bath anyway."

Momo was overheard immediately sighing. As quick as that happened, she unlocked the series of security measure and she emerged with Defoko trailing behind with a tray.

Teto was trying to avoid their eyes, but she couldn't. She looked up at the casual shine in Momo's for the permission. Defoko was just stoic, but she set down the tray.

There had to be something positive about the situation. Evidence provided by a faint, fresh scent coming from the tray.

Everyone remained silent as the awkwardness took effect. There wasn't a good path to take with the moment; all of the emotion-changing from a few days ago was fresh in their minds. Teto especially felt stressed out, and couldn't even enjoy a bath this time around.

But before Teto gave up on the bath and exited, Defoko reached for the nearby pile of towels and tossed one into her ready hand.

Still, not a word was said. Apologies? No, that wasn't going to be offered because the bad emotions were still there. Apologizing would be insincere and temporary.

Momo felt she should be the one to break the ice. Usually, she would being up a funny story back at their old workplace to bring cheer back. Maybe about the time she mixed up some drinks, so people who couldn't handle their booze went wild. It wasn't funny at the time; but you get the point.

"_I can't say anything. She's going to yell at me!_" Momo swore she could cry...but hurriedly slapped her face to stop such a thing. No, she didn't need to be falling victim to bad emotions.

"_If I recall correctly, there was an article about human behavior that said younger people are prone to freaking out more._" Defoko walked over to the bed and claimed a seat, calmly stretching out like she was invited here. "_What if Teto is experiencing the same thing? She is at the age the humans would be._"

"_There's no right or wrong way to go about this!_" The thought alone brought another headache. Teto tried to be nonchalant as she resumed drying, and maybe that cringe could be covered up as being cold? "_I don't hate them; but they might think I do. If I'm going to fix this up, I need to force a smile and...bear the pain I guess?_"

* * *

The chair swiveled slowly until finding itself halted. Neru long stopped her aimless spinning, and instead she moved across the room to take a seat on her bed and reach for the TV remote. She pulled her knees close to her chest, and flipped through the various stations for some form of entertainment.

The way she saw it was: if she got her mind off everything that happened recently, she didn't have to worry about it. Worry happened when she let her mind focus on the real world, so let's just pretend that the real world is shit and the fantasy is all that matters.

The programs were...mildly interesting. There was a news report about a kidnapped child being found alive and currently reuniting with his parents, a movie that had scenes of a beast slaughtering three random people, an ad for a weight loss miracle pill, and there were two anime on separate channels...but neither genre held her interest.

"Geez, there's nothing fun to do anymore." She groaned aloud, then sprawled and flipped channels on a loop. "You think I'm going to give up that easily?"

Actually, she was prone to give up that easy-

"Humph, the news will have to do."

The news report showed the little boy, apparently no older than seven, held in a loving embrace by his parents. Spectators looked like they were trying hard to not be moved, and Neru's lips did twitch momentarily long with theirs.

In the end however, she reached for her sketchbook and draw until she heard something that actually sounding interesting. If she waited for another hour, the news would be off and replaced with one of those hospital drama shows.

The blank page of the sketchbook looked so lonely, too bare. She started to draw a couple of slanted lines. Finished with the last one, she thought about where this was going. Was she going to draw a scene for the manga? A person? A building? She didn't know.

Just...two slanted lines.

"**...And if you like sales, you'd best get your car keys and wallets tonight! After tonight, there may never be a time to get this great of a deal on your electronics...**" The television echoed, the annoying voice booming all throughout the room.

Neru hurriedly turned the volume down, a lot. She then relaxed against the pillows and closed her eyes.

In this state of peace, she could feel the creativity flowing into her hand. This usually made her tap into her brain and drag out some of the ideas that came in her dreams. Her work usually wasn't good in her opinion, but when she stored in things from her dreams and brought them out later they usually **almost **didn't completely suck.

Upon thinking of the manga, one scene did come to be that took on the supernatural side of things. It was when she considered making the mental hospital a cover up for a society of restless spirits. The restless spirits, taking on the form of how they looked as humans before death, would go out into the world washing away all of the bad in the world so death wouldn't happen to anyone who didn't deserve a sudden end.

The idea flooding back into her head, Neru's eyes snapped open and sparkled with a rush of energy. This being the first time she felt motivated in a months, she took her pencil and hurriedly turned those slanted lines into a wider and crude panels.

It didn't take long to continue trailing from the edge of those lines, then scribble almost triangular edges that yes would be fixed up in a better version. The draft could suck as much as it wanted.

"Let's have a scene that describes how this works...with a candlestick there...shredded military uniforms..."

She made the panels come together better, although they were still shabby. Her swift, graceful pencil flew across the paper and drilled into it with power growing each time. There were interlocking circles forming faceless spirits in the background, cubes and triangles that would eventually form a street with the main hospital on it, and on what would become the road there were puddles of what would be blood if colored.

"_Because blood in a scene automatically makes you think: 'Oh, well if someone was bleeding then the situation must be grim and high-rated'. At least, that's the angle I see it._" Neru finished the last swirl of filling in the puddle, she shrugged soon after. "_Call me stupid if that's not right, whatever. It's not ruining my life._"

The page after this was where she started working on the inside of the hospital. Now that she thought about it, maybe this should be an abandoned hospital that's basically a poor man's haunted house. It wasn't the most original idea, but was she really an original person? Not at all.

Neru reclined by that point, lifting the notebook up to the light and just observing the artwork style. She always found that most people had distinct styles with their drawing, so how come she didn't have something that would automatically point out "Neru Akita original work right here"? There were no charming, art flaws or even precise angles. It was just...there.

"_Hmm, I bet that Teto would label me as any other generic artist if she saw this._"

"Wait, what am I saying?" Neru gasped this aloud rather than asked, and with a jolt she sat up and dropped her drawings.

On the TV, she could see a certain hospital where she met Teto.

"Oh, that's why I thought about her...they're finally making a news story out of the shit that went down." Neru would have been lying to herself if she didn't think it was amusing. Seriously; they waited at least two days to air this report.

The outside of the magnificent building was shown, the camera slowly tilting up and down each time to give the viewers a glimpse of how tall it really was. Maybe they wanted to hint at something? Whatever the case, some woman in a very expensive and admirable suit walked up to an old and young guy standing outside dressed in work-friendly attire with ties and all that jazz.

"**...That siren could be heard countless miles away, and local businesses were disturbed. How do you feel about this chaos of the world today?**"

Neru couldn't help but narrow her eyes, still looking at the screen not amused as she carefully pushed up to her feet.

On the screen, the younger guy eagerly jumped forth like a child on sugar. "**Well you see, this hospital takes great care to make sure all of the screwy folks**-"

The older guy, on live television no less, smacked the younger with a rolled up magazine. He only watched with disgust as the victim fell down massaging his head.

With that, the older one popped the collar of the required coat he had the special role of wearing instead of the obviously-disliked guy.

"**It truly is a shame what wreck this world's come to, but we work our fingers to the bone so that all people with mental stress can be remedied and hopefully live a better life. This facility can be considered a refuge; a refuge that can't be disrupted by a mere escape of a tortured soul.**"

"_What middle school poetry class are you stealing from?_" Neru was on her feet by this point, and she shook her head at the TV as she passed by in the direction of the bathroom.

"**It's understood that you treat the mentally-stressed, but how did this attack from one of your own patients create such a mess?**"

"**Oh, the poor girl has more problems than most of our patients. She has certain 'qualities' that make her escape the normal safety measures and sometimes go on emotion-charged rampages.**"

* * *

Now out of the bath, Teto was more than happy to slip underneath the warm blankets. Momo, despite looking affected the whole time, tried to restore some form of peace by tucking her in. It may smooth things over, or it may not. That was just how it worked.

Meanwhile, Defoko was her quiet self who was leaving the scene through the door. She felt there wasn't anything left to say and besides, Teto ate from the apology fruit basket...so that was all that mattered. Maybe she would do like other topics and let them slide. She didn't have a consistent grudge.

As she dried her hair and styled it back into spiral place, Defoko couldn't help noticing that Teto changed the topic to the student who she played with. They barely knew each other, but she went on in almost a mindless blur talking about how she had fun and would enjoy if she took up her offer to return.

Momo tried to let her down gently, as usual. Normally, she did have to be the one to explain that sometimes people can't get what they want in the world. It didn't stop Teto from trying, however.

One thought continuously played in Defoko's mind: what if the student did return? If she managed to get her to come back to the hospital, would that make her forgive her for listening to what was programmed into her?

_Teto spun around despite the limited room, grin nearly splitting her face._

"_Who knew that hide and seek could be that intense, anyway? There are so many rules, but you feel really accomplished when a win is secured!"_

Hide and seek was just a kid's game. It seemed unreal that she could be so excited about it. But if Teto begged her enough, she would have given in and played with her.

"_Neru didn't get to tell me a lot about the outside, but if she were here I bet I wouldn't have to sneak out!_"

Defoko thoughtfully scraped at the floor each time she took a step out of the room. With a weak close of the door, she decided that Momo could handle the locks and whatnot. For now, she had all of this on her mind and it was...scary. Well, not to the average. She was just scared that she could play it out in her head despite it only happening minutes ago.

"It's a good thing I believe in symbolism." She muttered beneath her shirt collar, eyes shining inexplicably.

"_I hope she does return. She seemed so interesting, right? You two know; I've never been able to meet a 'human' who wasn't horrified of me."_

"_Well...maybe she's the kind of person who looks past appearances? Like Defoko and I!"_

"_Well, I've looked past some appearances...but not Momo's. She's just a thing I deal with."_

"_You're setting a bad example for her! If you continue to act so rude, IF this student returns she may be scared off by Teto soaking up your attitude!"_

"_That's enough. Seriously, there's steam hissing out of your ears. Let me see that head..."_

Defoko hardly noticed she was walking down the hall. She suddenly whipped her head left and right, glancing momentarily at staff members shakily rushing by with carts full of medications and needles.

She continued, her head full to the point of steaming now with all of the collected flashbacks shooting off each corner. This shouldn't be happening, right? How crazy was it that she couldn't get her mind on the important details in life?

Like stealing magazines from the lobby, and laughing at the ads inside.

Quickly, the scheming robot sidestepped to a corner of the hall. She shoved herself flat against a door, tapping on the back of her neck as the staff members continued on their way.

If she wanted to make things right with Teto, inviting a certain nosy student was the only way. That, or she could rob a bakery and give her a year's supply of bread, but that wouldn't be very legal, now would it?

Fingers flew across the barely-visible keys, clicking echoed and rattled into her ears, and she suddenly felt a little of a rush from the lack of rest. However, in only a timed period of thirty-two seconds she managed to create her message. All that was left to do was plug herself into an actual computer, transfer it like some ordinary e-mail, then have that printed out to be physical.

Luckily for her, the door she decided to prop against was also home to an open computer. Well, okay there was usually that abused right hand man...but he could be easily avoided.

The real problem was finding a way to get the note to Neru's house.

* * *

"**...And that concludes tonight's broadcast. Have a good evening, and thank you for the support.**"

"It's about time!"

Neru happily turned the volume higher again. If she had to watch some mindless drama, that was okay. Anything was better than the report about a lot of things that mostly didn't matter. The good thing about that hospital coverage was that no names were stated. Also, there was no security footage of her despite the fact she had seen a camera mounted on the wall at one point.

That one segment did remind her about Teto again. One person shouldn't be on her mind at random times, especially considering she felt like her mother's happiness of her possible new social life should be overriding it.

Her eyebrows lifted, nevertheless her facial expression was blank as she looked over what she had drawn so far. The more she had let her thoughts drift to the encounter with Teto, the more she started to model this hospital after that one. Also, there were pigtail drills on one of the spirits...that probably shouldn't have been there considering the whole "departed" aspect.

"_No, you are NOT going back even if you did...sort of enjoy acting like a kid again! I mean, if it were for research then...that could be arranged. But no breaking into that girl's room and asking to play another game!_" Just to force this into her brain, Teto slapped her wrist that gripped the pencil.

There were only outlines by this point, but she swore she saw the lobby of that hospital in this one panel. Now...maybe that wouldn't be so bad. In the finished product, she could always change the scenery to not be inspired from that. As for the faceless, humanoid spirit that sported impressive drills in the sides of its head...um...

Well, that was why artists often bought new erasers to replace the ones lifted via cute and emotional girls.

Neru hurriedly reached for the eraser and began to work with removing the hair. With each violent shove, it was gradually wearing away until only little particles remained.

She sighed with relief, then leaned back over to set down the eraser. She lifted her head in time to see a large, gray triangle hurling at her window with incredible speed that could cross the earth in space around six seconds.

She yawned roughly at the sight, then lifted her knees up a little more to securely balance the clipboard-

**CRASH**

Very slowly, Neru peeled open her tightly shut eyes with her hands. She could only see the back of the clipboard that was pressed to her face, but quickly threw it down and **finally **cringed outwardly and tossed herself to her feet.

"What the hell?!" That was a reasonable reaction, at least in her opinion.

Neru examined her arms and shifted through her hair, but she didn't feel any glass or scraped places. There never was any pain of glass lodged inside – because she had accidentally been cut by the material before. It was **far **from a fun experience.

She scanned the destruction left behind by whatever the fuck that monstrosity was. The window was broken, but not entirely. There was just a rather large hole directly in the center while all the glass previously there scattered the floor underneath. And there were two big shards on her dresser, but nothing too close to her bed.

The most interesting thing to look at was the culprit. Neru crouched and silently took in the object with a baffled expression. For one thing: it was definitely a gray triangle type of...thing? She honestly hadn't one clue.

But it was really shiny, and for all of its triangular qualities it did look high tech. She herself didn't participate with these portable computers, but she could appreciate the screen that was lit up and ready for action.

"_The question of the century is still: why the fuck did this fl through my window?!_"

The computer wasn't going to answer any of her questions, and as expected of technology it just lied there waiting for use. It had a little message on screen that said to scroll the page.

So...although giving it a "what the fuck" expression the whole time, Neru bent down to the floor and with a trembling finger she scrolled the screen.

There wasn't any sound, and it went straight to another message that showed an icon of a letter. Maybe e-mail, or some fancy crap like that. She pressed the icon that flashed, and soon one did pop up on the screen.

**If you have received this message, you're more than likely Neru. The same Neru who my friend, Teto, experienced a game of hide and seek with.**

**This message was originally to be sent physically, but I could not print it. So I specifically made this computer track you down. It is best not to think about how it works. Even if I told you, I doubt you would believe it yourself.**

**But know that I am Defoko, at least...to my friends. I am the purple-haired humanoid machine you may have seen escorting Teto back.**

**I am contacting you because Teto won't stop talking about you. I feel that she had so much fun that she wants to experience it again. She doesn't have any friends outside of me and a certain paranoid wreck, so I know she's lonely when we're not there. But you managed to do something that no other human has: not run away from her. People get scared of her immediately because of her effect on the temperature, constantly switching emotions, and a few other qualities of appearance.**

**But you didn't seem fazed by that. At least, not from her description.**

**It makes me feel something resembling happiness that she enjoyed herself for once. If your actions were anything to go, you had fun too. So this could work out in both of our favors; all you must do is visit her from time to time.**

**I understand you may have school and the like to deal with, but don't you have days off? Holidays? Seasons changing? Whenever you have the time, you should come by.**

**Also...if you do come by, I'd rather you not mention what I said to her. She would not let me hear the end of it, and I am known to be the queen of stoicism in her eyes. So when you're finished reading this message, please delete all trace with that wastebasket icon.**

**Also, if you want to keep the computer...you're free to. I stole it...you can insert a smile here.**

**We hope you'll come by again.**

Neru gazed down at the computer blankly. She swore for one minute that maybe she fell asleep while drawing, and all of this was the result of having a large dinner earlier. Crazy dreams and the like.

But the smooth texture of the computer felt real. Also, the glass that covered her floor would feel the same if she were to walk into it. So...maybe this actually happened.

If so, she really wanted to sleep. This was too much to take in, and what were the chances of one visit to the hospital for shits and giggles drag her into a different universe entirely? That hospital was just...shady by this point.

But the "harm to society" wasn't shady. She seemed almost to be no different from a normal girl.

"I can't react to this." With that, Neru tossed the computer to the edge of her bed. It landed softly, and she groaned out loud and buried her face in her hands. "There's glass on the floor that I could stab my feet with, a window to replace, a stolen computer, weird girls with wires out of their armpits and it just goes on and on!"

Before Neru could stumble over to her bed to curl up and sleep, the door suddenly flew open with a **WHAM **to follow.

"Neru, are you alright?!"

She looked up suddenly, expression still blank as she found herself looking up at the panic-stricken face of her mom. Before she could even get out one sound from her tongue, she was already embraced tightly and shoved against her stomach.

"I'm sorry I didn't arrive sooner, Sweetie! I heard some noise, but I thought you were listening to more of that anime again and...then there was no noise...! I was so horrified that I punched a delivery person in the face in the process of running-"

"Mom!"

Mother paused suddenly, her face still ghostly white and covered in fear. But she did realize that she was potentially suffocating her daughter against her stomach...she immediately released her.

"Mom, it's okay. I didn't get hurt, but the window's broken." Neru motioned to the scene with her hand, cracking an almost amused smirk from all of this and utterly bewildering her flustered mother. "It's not the first time, you know. When we had those neighbors with the triplets, I remember when the kids threw five baseballs and hit me with 'em. We can handle this."

Mother just blinked repeatedly, thankfully regaining more of her original complexion back. It wouldn't have been pretty if she passed out on the glass shards.

Hoping to finally drive the final point into this matter and leave it behind her, Neru grasped the computer and placed it into her mother's hands.

"This beast was thrown into it. One of those fancy, portable computers from last year."

Mother pulled herself out of her horrified state, and nervous giggles that sounded more like gagging ensued as she looked over the technology.

"As long as you were away from the window when this happened, Sweetie."

"Yeah, but don't you think this event is crazy?"

"Well...I'm just...concerned...about your health."

"Look at this computer. Don't you see anything off about it?"

"N-no, but it looks like a model I considering buying last year when it came out. Are you going to return it to its proper owner?"

Neru turned her head to the side, hoping that she successfully hid the uneasy expression crossing over. But when she looked back to Mother, Mother's expression implied she wasn't going to deal with that shit.

"Neru, you need to return this. And in the meantime, I'll look into...stronger windows...oh..." With that, Mom stumbled a lot and again lost color in her face. Neru leaped up with arms around her back to support her.

It wasn't hard to lead Mother back to the sofa. When Neru dropped her off there, she tossed a mindless "I'll see what I can do about the computer's return" over her shoulder. But she honestly didn't know if she was going to set foot into the hospital unprepared.

"_This 'Defoko' seems more of a threat than Teto. I can't believe the hospital doesn't see that! If I go back there, and I know my passion for art is going to lead me whether I like it or not, I may be risking wonderful sanity._" She suddenly choked on the air as images of Rin and Kaito popped in with these thoughts. "_Besides, I don't want to deal with them again. Following Rin can't be the only option, still...maybe...I could walk in alone._"

An image of – hey, surprise – Teto emerged in her thoughts. The way she was was so lively despite being easily caught the first round of the game. She did not let a fail stop her, and she actually proved to be a better player than originally believed. As far she could tell, this "menace to society" wasn't unholy terror in physical form. She seemed pleasant enough.

"_I-I GUESS I could visit a second time. Hopefully, I can find a way to sneak Rin into guiding me again. But I can do it! Yes, I can be creative in social situations just as much as your average person!_"

Now, if only she could believe that motivating short speech. The thoughts crashed to a stop when she heard her mom shout out an inquiry about if the delivery person was still unconscious at the door, and Neru changed her course to a new destination.

Also, if she hoped enough...maybe the bill for that window wouldn't be too high this time. That last time with the kids and the baseballs was enough to give her a swore back for four days.

* * *

_**And so it continues on...**_

* * *

The Chosen Storyteller is here in a revolutionary single A/N~

Thank you for reading the chapter and the story in general. It has recently been restored from hiatus, and as you can tell...I'm really screwed up with the pacing of the story because of that. To make a confession: I hate the way this pace is, and I know I can't be **this **lame at giving interesting details! Although I'm already lame enough, and I've known **that **for all of my teen years.

Anyhow, hopefully you liked this in spite of my horrifying pace. I promise that the next chapter will have revealing interactions between Neru and Teto; there's a very high chance they're going to talk a little more seriously to each other about their lives and pasts. I can only pray desperately that I don't eff shit up.

I give you a farewell, for now. *Randomly plays energetic music as I depart*

This was The Chosen Storyteller, but he's signing out now~ Here's a life lesson: don't always act nonchalant to wayward tablet computers flying through your windows! You may have a broken window, glass, and possibly a bone if you're hit!


	6. Better Ways To Spend The Afternoon

_**From The Opposite Side**_

_**Chapter 6: "Better Ways To Spend The Afternoon"**_

* * *

Neru breathed heavily, and continued to claw at the notebook in her hands to the point of destroying it. This was not an ordinary notebook; it belonged to Rin.

It looked brand new as well. Lime green, thick and bold lines on the paper inside, and honestly it was a shame it didn't have a lot of wear on it. But what she did peek into was not of interest in the slightest; Rin had scribbled a few phone numbers and some random movie schedules on TV.

"_She's just a way of getting to the hospital, Neru. Calm yourself, breathe, realize that researching the hospital and getting what info you can out of Teto is all you need. No friendship will be established._"

She could repeat the mantra in her head until it exploded, but there was hardly half of a belief inside.

Just talking to Rin as she gave the notebook back would be stressful. Unfortunately, this stupid school lacked a place to hook up her consoles and kill the time. Now that was usually a way to relax – slicing and shredding a demon boss from an RPG or something equally mellow.

At least this time, Rin was in her sight. The target didn't realize she was even following from the first second she stepped into her language class.

Okay, she more than likely wasted an hour listening to Rin and some annoying elitists echo Italian and what sounded kind of like awkwardly-pronounced Russian off the walls and into the solar system.

She'd be deaf soon, but oh well.

Now lunch time, Rin was quick to whip out her food after such exhausting yelling. Neru followed like a stalker from the vaguely-dark corners of the halls and up to the top.

The top of the school was semi-spacious with enough room for a place to overlook the sky and give vertigo. Its colors were dull gray, just as exciting as one could expect. The only thing of minor interest was the box of random costumes and shit near the fence. It must have been stolen by fail rebels again.

Rin sat on the "floor", enthusiastically devouring what looked like meat drenched in sauce. It was actually kind of tempting...but the growling stomach at the sight was blissfully swept aside.

Rather than being alone, Rin also had some companions in the form of Luka sitting there too more calmly biting into what looked like fast food. The other one was a forgettable, white-haired girl who was standing against the chain fence and eating her dessert like a squirrel or something equal to that.

"_I'm screwed! Those two can't see me be nice like this!_" Neru knew it would have been easy to break her neck that way, but she hurriedly threw herself back against the rail for the stairs. "_Everyone knows Luka even without meeting her: she's a cool, uncaring type who specializes in bluffing! That other one, uhhhhh, well who's to say she won't tell people that I was spotted doing a good deed and basically begging her friend to let me come to work with her?_"

Of course, she could always write down a message into the notebook before dropping it and running away. But what if Rin didn't understand who left it? Anyone could sign their name as "Neru", and she would think that because she didn't have a distinct penmanship.

Neru pressed her back further into the railing, her knees weakening and her stomach welling with dread. There was no way to go about this. Either way, either way she would have to be utterly horrified by Rin and company thinking she was a friend-searcher.

That wasn't the case; don't think otherwise.

"_But if I don't confront her now...I may regret it. Then I'll never know..._" Again, a certain girl from the hospital flashed into her mind. Neru's eyes snapped open, glowing with foreign determination. "_Just throw the book at her, explain in CALM details, and RUN LIKE YOU MEAN IT!_"

It may have sounded logical on the surface, however-

Neru, not really thinking it over, mustered all power into her legs and feet. With energy that she probably never knew of before, she bolted away from her hiding spot and nearly cracked the "floor" as to run toward the girls.

"I heard the report was lacking in details because they didn't want to let out a secret..." Luka trailed off, and even lowered her drink as she felt a disturbance. A blast of heat suddenly swept over her shoulders. "What's that incoming-"

Luka's words would forever remain a mystery. When she turned her head to see what was happening, she noticed the gleam-eyed psycho girl running full speed over. At first, she let her words die as she looked on with narrowing eyes.

Just as Rin swallowed her last bite in preparation to ask her what was wrong, Luka threw out a protective arm in case of the apocalypse or some crap like that.

Very deep, almost frightening breathing began to arise from the new face. At hearing this noise, Rin followed the lead of her friends and lifted her eyes to the person.

"Oh, Neru!" Rin immediately smiled **fondly **of all things, and rose to her feet. "We haven't seen each other in days, were you sick? I thought you may have caught something dangerous – it is that time of year!"

The girl with the lesser presence exchanged a confused look with Luka, and the both of them slowly began to wrap their leftover food for protection.

Neru only breathed heavily in reply, nearly doubling over and smashing her skull against the notebook as she did so. Luckily, she didn't have to speak.

"I was just telling Luka and Haku about our adventure at the hospital." Rin gestured to both of her companions, and they awkwardly rose to full height and glanced at her funny. "You may have seen them around school before?"

Neru hacked, just a little. The other girls held out their arms to catch her, but she refused with a frantic hand wave.

"I'm so glad...to meet the gang...ugh..." Okay, maybe she was finished breathing heavily? Neru exhaled one last time, then properly stood like nothing happened. "Okay so Luka – sex goddess who charms anyone. Haku – forgettable, but idolizes Miku for whatever reason. Is that correct?"

The addressed parties looked even more awkward than before, not really flattered or offended just...there. Although Luka did glance at her body for a moment, wondering what she meant by the whole sex goddess-

"Um, that's very bold description." Rin slowly mentioned, looking into her eyes just as bold as those words were. With the awkwardness slashed away, she jumped forth and slung a friendly arm around the shoulders. "Anyway, it's great that we know each other now! If you want to have lunch with us, we still have an extra burger left."

"It has turkey bacon; you can't deny the appeal." Luka, literally barging into the scene when Rin captured her shoulders too, couldn't help but mention.

The burger held out in her direction did look appealing. Neru stared at it for a moment, but then remembered she already pigged out earlier on all of those leftovers. She just pushed it away.

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm okay. I was just following-**looking **for Rin because I have something to give her."

Haku, forgotten in the background, looked over with concern about the sandwich before it was tucked away again.

Thankfully, the other two released themselves from her. Neru briefly shook her arms a little to remove the atmosphere, then shoved the notebook into Rin's clumsy hands with an even more frantic "here's your lost item".

Rin looked down at the notebook thoughtfully, and it didn't take long for her eyes to shimmer with excitement. "You found my notebook?!"

"_Actually, I swiped it when you went to piss._"

"I...found it."

Blissfully choosing to ignore Neru's stumbles and shamed eye-dodging, Rin eagerly shoved the notebook back into her bag. She actually seemed to believe her own theory, and spent the next several seconds throwing "thank yous" at her face like there was no tomorrow.

"_Since she's so happy, it's not as if I can tell her the truth now. Oh well, does it matter?_" A mental checklist was given the first mark of completion. Neru channeled a little more energy, and hurriedly turned back to her public. "_It's time to __**slyly **__hint at me wanting to have another tour of the workplace!_"

"Do you need something else?" Haku's quiet voice brought her back to earth. When she stole a look at her, she was walking closer and idly wringing her hands. "You seem kind of hysterical all of a sudden. Not to be mean or anything, I'm just saying..."

"No, it's not a problem! There's actually something else I want to say."

The other girls nodded in understanding, and proceeded to pause their own worlds just to smile politely and look in her path.

But Neru promptly froze up, hating herself for this nervous feeling when so many **wanted **or at least **resembled wanting **to listen to the garbage that fell out of her mouth.

"Um...well, I-I DEMAND you let me visit the hospital with you again!"

She was a **beast **with this subtle business.

* * *

"Good afternoon, Teto!" A familiar, peppy voice chirped upon enter. Soon, Momo revealed herself from the large crack in the doorway. "I hope you don't mind me coming by too early, but I was given a break for the guard duty last night."

Teto looked up from where she had been sprawling on the floor looking at the ceiling. The second her ears properly registered her words, she leaped to her feet with wings and tail sprouting happily.

"Oh, you're...visiting again?" Teto may have excitedly leaped, but she forced her gaze elsewhere and obviously lowered her tone. "Even with your hard work, the staff usually has a stricter hold on you and Defoko."

Momo stumbled in one place – almost falling, no less. She visibly looked horrified, more than likely freaked out by the idea she was still offered the cold shoulder.

But then the poor robot turned her head to the side a little, glancing at the wings that flapped happily.

Mixed feelings?

"My work could never come in between visiting an important person." Momo walked closer, just close enough to reach out her worried hand and playfully ruffle the sticking out hair on her pigtails. "We haven't been able to talk long enough lately, and to be honest...I'm worried you're still angry!" Gentle ruffling turned into her pulling her hand away and waving it nonsensically.

Teto stared at this, unsure of whether to step away or grab the hand and place it at her side. Either choice sounded like it would be wrong, so she did nothing. She at least glanced at the floor again, forcing herself to look frustrated.

It probably wasn't working. Especially considering she felt the breeze her happily-waving wings were creating.

"Please, don't be angry at either me or Defoko! I know she's ambiguous about the whole matter, but I'll show you how sorry I am! I'll stay away if you tell me to!" Hysterical babbling continued to pour out from Momo, until the rest of her speech was completely incoherent.

Teto looked her over, head turning to the side to try and see this from another perspective. It was kind of weird because the first perspective was seeing her cry with none of those human tears, and now she saw a horribly-shaken Momo desperate to right any form of wrong she gave.

"_Either way, I know I shouldn't let her think she's hated. I don't hate her. But how the heck do you calm down someone like this?_" Her hands twitched as they connected and fingers brushed over each other.

It wasn't as simple as reaching out and stroking her face. If she did, she was afraid her head would fall off again after all of those times a certain stoic master ripped it off on purpose.

"I don't hate you."

Momo removed her hands from her hair, regaining better posture as she looked back at Teto. "Do you want me to stay away? I mean, I'll do it if you merely just **dislike **me."

"You don't have to stay away!" Teto allowed herself to beam, and suddenly the light in the room brightened to a fantastic level. "I'm not saying I forgive either of you entirely, but I think there's potential! So don't stop talking to me, okay? If I didn't have you two visiting and playing with me, I swear this hospital would be a thousand times more boring!"

Momo stepped away, looking either ready to cry or pass out. But if she did pass out, that wouldn't be the most comfortable thing.

Before anything else could be said, the door suddenly opened fully. Defoko stepped inside, waving casually with a poorly-disguised swagger in her walk.

"Are we finished with the drama yet? People can hear you two out in the hall, you know."

"Everything's fine, especially with you two!" Teto chirped regardless, bouncing across the floor and not minding that she wasn't able to hold herself back. "Let's try and forget that you two obeyed your evil programming, and move on. But that's not going to happen unless we work really hard to restore what was lost."

A certain tension fell over the room; you know the one. The kind of stressful mood when friends are thrown off balance by stupid events. Defoko herself really felt it, but at the same time she was far from worried.

She mostly tuned out the other two for the moment. Teto eagerly started trying to remove the tension by pulling Momo over to a stack of papers while saying something about a game involving rocks and scissors crushing that. Defoko noted that was a two player game, at least that was what she could understand. But not with literal...maybe it was best not to correct that mistake.

She looked away from them, letting her lips twitch at both sides and make a lot of really weird movements. Before she could properly understand what was happening, she glanced at the little clock on the nearby shelf. It was getting late in the afternoon, usually the time schools would be letting the students out.

"_Blondie with the awkwardness should be out of school by now too. But I'm not going to tell them._" Defoko hurriedly bolted for the door, maybe she could continue avoiding work by standing out and waiting for-

"Where are you going?"

Freeze. Defoko stopped at the door, then hurriedly turned to look over at Teto as she waved a large pair of scissors over Momo's shaking hand and paper she held.

"Don't you want to try and get back to the better times, Defoko?" Her voice was so...distant, kind of like she was off in another world. But it really matched the lack of shine in her eyes, and wings folding back in.

Defoko didn't have to look in a mirror to know her stoic face was back where it should be. She cleared her throat, then turned her head toward the exit. "You'll have to excuse me today. There's an important, ah, delivery coming and I have to pick it up."

"But you just got here."

"I know. Uh, I wanted to tell you about it until I heard the made-for-television drama in here."

Momo stopped her nervous look – probably wondering where she found these rocks and scissors –, she did so long enough to send daggers at Defoko.

Meanwhile, Teto continued to snip through the paper. She did not seem to notice them getting a little too close to Momo's foot, and to be honest she still didn't have the whimsical attitude from previously.

Defoko unleashed a powerful sigh, and properly turned around to her. "Will you believe me if I make a promise to play this game tomorrow?"

"Yes..."

"Good. That is a promise."

Teto nodded without another word, and with a smile starting to return she continued to destroy the paper scattered on the floor. Momo continued to chuckle nervously, inching her foot away each second.

* * *

"_Y-you'd actually let me come with you again."_

"_Why not? It was fun the last time, but you didn't get to experience a proper day at the hospital."_

"_You mean that all of the sweat and running was fun? Also, wait, that wasn't a NORMAL experience for you employees?"_

"_The first time Rin told me a story about the hospital, um, she said that one person fell for her and she had to go on a wild adventure to find an item that would make him forget her."_

"_That sounds interesting. Was this guy attractive despite the unjustified obsession?"_

"_Luka, that's not really the point."_

"_Hey, are we all forgetting about my demands?"_

"_Rin already said you could join. Besides, it sounds like a good way for all of us to bond."_

"_Bond?!"_

"_Of course! I invited Luka and Haku to come before you made your demand~ This will be so great; all that would be left is for you to hang out with Meiko and Miku, then we could have social circle to end all before us!"_

_Neru turned away from the cheery girls, disgust flooding her face. But it wasn't just that, she also felt like she could lie down for hours, and even that wouldn't sooth the pain of having to be brutally-offered a place in a circle of friends._

_Besides, it was unbalanced in her opinion; one guy and a lot of girls was common in say...anime, but not the real world. That is where lines in the dirt are carefully drawn, then signed with blood._

The school day passed by with nothing of interest in Neru's opinion. She skipped on the classes that bored her, fell asleep under the big tree near the back of the gym, and during the classes that she did show her face in she scribbled down scenes for the manga based on what she felt during the first visit.

"_This time around, I've got this under control._"

Neru appropriately propped her bicycle, then slowly turned to face the building. She was a little uneasy looking at it, but quickly reverted to a **kind of **comfort **maybe **feeling when she noticed three other girls walking over to greet her.

"_I'll just get Luka and what's-her-face elsewhere, then insist Rin take me to the room. As an employee, she must have the right connections to know these things!_"

"Luka, what's-your-face," The addressed girls turned their heads back to Neru. "You two should split up when we reach the lobby. I'm still kind of unsure about this place, and someone needs to be the look out for suspicious activity while we're all gawking."

Haku just looked down at her feet, probably because of the lack of her name used there.

Luka, although still looking blank, lifted her hand to her head in a salute. "That's precisely what we were born to do." As soon as she finished the salute, an almost thrilled smile appeared on her face for a split second. "This atmosphere really draws me in! I'm sure it won't be hard to take up this role."

Neru gave her shifty eyes for a moment, but otherwise she somehow felt a wave of calmness from the acceptance. She was...really surprised that worked, actually.

Immediately after everyone entered the lobby, an awestruck Luka was right on time when it came to accidentally letting out a quiet squeal. She then reached for a helpless Haku's wrist...she kind of just didn't give a damn as she dragged the girl toward the counter and asked for directions.

"So, where do you want to go today?" Rin popped up underneath Neru's lifted arm. She shot her an award-winning smile again, eyes big and curious. "My schedule consists of teaching English to a small group, giving dinner on the fourth floor, and replacing the bed sheets and pillowcases on the second floor!"

Neru opened her mouth quickly, but was cut off by Rin squealing too like an idiot for a moment.

"I'm sorry if I sound too excited right now, but I drank a lot of coffee before coming here! Also, after today I'm going to get paid after such a long break of it!"

Neru glanced anywhere except her adorable expressions and awkward hopping. "I want to stay as far away from you guys as I can. So if you're okay with my bold suggestion, ahem," She may have thought of these words last minute, but as she closed her eyes and struggled to say the rest...she was **wonderfully **cut off by Rin making an 'aha' noise.

"Say no more. I know where you're thinking about going!" Rin pulled at her sleeves suddenly, enthusiasm drained as she apparently reeled a memory. "You want to...spend some time with the evil girl."

"We don't have any proof she's evil." Neru quickly turned on the back of her feet, folding her arms a little too tight. "I had a close encounter – she's not prone to violence."

"I don't want to fall into the hype; I swear." Rin continued to choke on her words, her eyes shut as she struggled a little more. "There's just a bad feeling I'm picking up. I don't know why, but it's as if I'm in a movie where I live to physically feel danger."

"...Sucks for you." Neru immediately turned sharply, then waved as she strolled to the front desk. "I'm old enough to find my way around, Rin. You do what the hospital needs while I find my way around."

"_Okay so MAYBE trying to get Rin's help failed. But I was raised to know my way around the world! I CAN find the directions to Teto's room; it can't be that hard._"

Calmly, Neru stepped in between Luka and Haku. When they were told where the most interesting technology was held, Luka was quick to drag the slower one off by the hand a little too happily for this to be the same girl.

"May I help you?" The polite, sunshine-radiating female employee suddenly dragged Neru from her staring at the odd scene.

Neru stuttered nonsense for a moment, before slyly smacking the bottom of her spine with her fist in a way that made a passing Rin cringe as she hurried along.

"I wouldn't ordinarily do this, however..." Neru glanced anywhere except the – attractive – smile over her head. She frantically pulled out some money and smacked it into the surface. "My goals involve a particular patient in this hospital. You're going to hate what I'm going to request, but I hope the cash changes your mind."

The employee understandably looked around warily.

Neru just tried out an attractive grin that she had practiced in the mirror once or twice – twice actually –, and leaned close for good measure.

"No one has to pay to visit the patients, although it's usually recommended that family members and other familiar faces should be given full visitation rights. You see, they can stay from opening to closing if they really want to. But outsiders have a limited time."

The "attractive grin" of Neru's suddenly turned utterly sour as she overheard the news. "What's the time that an 'outsider' can visit?"

"Half an hour. We do this to ensure no one tries to do anything outlandish; like intentionally pick a fight with the short-tempered. Or trigger phobias that are being treated. Things like that."

The employee scanned her over for another second, casual expression faltering as to take in the one bringing down the mood.

"Who do you want to visit today? Every name is right here," A quick pat to the nearby, thick stack of papers for emphasis. "As long as you follow our rules, and know what you're stepping into."

The world would so crash and explode if she said this name. But Neru's lips were already shaking, preparing to lift as she spoke the one name that everyone here had their knickers in a bunch about-

"Teto. Uh...and whatever the surname is."

Right on time, one of the flickering bulbs in the overhead light exploded.

Before the stunned employee could react, Neru felt something tap her shoulder. She thought that maybe it was someone's lost kid, but then she heard a familiar monotone follow it up.

"Welcome back."

Neru turned with a jolt, and realized she was looking at the face of Defoko. She was looking as stoic as she was known to be, and brought her hand back to her side when she was acknowledged.

"You responded very quickly. But then again, I was standing around here waiting for you, anyway." Defoko didn't smile, blink, even breathe. She turned to the employee who was falling over the desk looking almost comatose. "Your record of time spent will be monitored, so we should hurry and let Teto know of your arrival."

"But...but nine-o-six..."

"Your job is to greet people and give information, and my job is to watch out for that 'monster' who's also my friend."

The employee promptly stood tall and brave again. "We have to protect the outsiders! I, well...to protect my country-"

"You just do your job so you can feed yourself."

Neru suddenly felt an arm clasp to her back, and tightly hold there. She groaned deeply, wondering why she was a part of this chaos suddenly, but couldn't do anything as a persistent Defoko strolled away with her in tow.

* * *

The walk to the elevator was awkward, standing inside with an accidentally-inappropriate arm on her back was in that same category, and passing by all of the horrified employees who shook like caffeine addicts was just hard to properly register. There was no conversation during any of this. Defoko seemed like less of a person, and more like a puppet.

Neru decided she would use the opportunity to look into her mental checklist again. Did she have everything prepared for this moment? It was unlikely that the time she said "goodbye" to her mother this morning would be the last, so there was nothing to make right.

She brought her art supplies, notebooks, cellphone, and wallet. So it didn't seem like she would run into any trouble. Also, she brought the messenger computer to return.

"I'm ready for this." Neru glanced at Defoko, not realizing her expression was full of uncharacteristic determination. Hey, she wasn't looking in a mirror every second.

Defoko still didn't say anything. But not too long after the statement was left to die in the air, they stopped walking when reaching the farthest corner of the hallway. With the blast of chilly air from the cracks, Neru understood where they were.

"Teto is waiting for you in here. The moment you step into the room, your amount of time spent is going to be added to a permanent record. Staying longer than half an hour will result in the staff and the douche in the main office to act crazy."

"You have a main office?"

"Don't bother looking for it. As I said, the one in control of this place is so annoying and unpleasant to be around."

"I'll keep that in mind. But can I at least give you back the computer you destroyed my bedroom window with?"

Suddenly, Neru held out the computer to the sender. Defoko glanced down at it, but ultimately shook her head and then shoved it back into her grasp.

"You should keep the computer. I have no use for it, and besides that I now know where you live."

"You didn't before?!"

From the corner of Neru's eye, she swore that Defoko changed expressions for a second. But amusement on her looked horrifying, so she didn't say anything.

"Let's just say that I can detect where people live. That may be the only reason I'm not burnt into scrap metal."

Neru opened her mouth with a million questions trying to escape, but when she noticed that the strange girl was already getting through all of the security measures...she just closed it and watched.

It didn't take long for the door to fly open, and two pink-haired figures to burst out of it in a flash.

Neru could only cringe and try to save herself, but it was too late for her. What happened, she didn't know. But the next thing was aware of was that she was lying on the floor, two people sprawled over her in painful ways.

She just stared at the ceiling blankly. Could she give a reaction to this?

"Hey, let's not make a scene in public." Defoko crouched to their level, and shook her head disapprovingly as she grabbed someone's arm. "I thought we've had this discussion before?"

"Sorry! I thought it wouldn't hurt that bad!" Ah, Teto's voice. Neru lifted her now-aching neck, and noticed that Teto was on top of them all grinning sheepishly.

"Um, that's not a problem. I'm trying to adapt to social situations in the first place." Neru managed to roll over to her side, but was still crushed by the other pink-haired girl. She grunted, hinting at her position. "Can someone help me?"

"She's just frozen up from the collision." Teto corrected, for some reason. She hurriedly threw herself off the pile, then took Neru's flailing hand for assistance. "Again, sorry about the pain."

Neru was on her feet by that point, and still visibly trembling from all of the contact. But she hurriedly withdrew her hand from Teto's like she was the one frozen, and mumbled a few "it's okay"s under her breath.

On the floor, Defoko hastily shoved her fists against the poor other girl's skull. "You two shouldn't mind me. Go on ahead and visit while I work to refresh this deadweight."

Teto shot Momo a worried glance, but then looked over to Neru with stars in her eyes and took her hand again anyway. "Yeah, let's visit! I heard your voice through the door, but I didn't know if it was really you! I had to get Momo read it, and synch up voice data!"

Neru could only stand and blink. So many questions floated in her mind, but none were voiced because she was cut off by a thrilled shriek. Then Teto rather boldly yanked her into the room with her.

But somewhere in all of that, Neru couldn't help paying attention to their skin contact. As hard as it was for her to believe it, she smiled slightly.

"_Her skin's nowhere near as cold as someone would think with that temperature-changing...thing? Ah, whatever. She's happy, so maybe this is like a mood ring for her._"

She'd have to remember to feel awkward about someone being happy for her later.

* * *

"Make yourself comfortable. I'm sorry if the room's a little..." Teto glanced around at the rock paper scissor match remains, then chuckled faintly as she lowered to the floor and sat down. "Cleaning isn't really my thing; it's just hard work for more dirt to gather, right? Yes, I hate the frustration it brings. Um, but I'm glad you came back anyway."

"Whoa, it's fine." Neru glanced around for a seat...but the only place was the bed. She hurriedly fell to her knees like Teto. "We had a fun time, didn't we? Usually, people who like each others' company...get back in each others' company?"

Teto probably didn't mean to, but she looked like a princess elegantly sitting and waiting for her next cue. She didn't stop smiling for anything; you'd swear she just won all of the money she would never hope to use.

If she hadn't felt like the most awkward person on the face of the earth before, this time Neru felt it. From her neck to her cheeks, she felt herself flush from the general knowledge – she didn't know what the fuck she was doing. Yay.

"People who like each others' company get back in each others' company". She was screwed.

Even Defoko from the large crack in the doorway, looked at her with a "what kind of shit is that" look in her eyes. For the queen of stoicism, that was great.

"Anyway! Anyway, hear I am just wasting time by not saying anything!" Nervous laughter and grin combined: Neru could sense this was going to fire before she could stop it. "Okay, so I thought maybe we could use this time, I keep repeating words oh fuckin' joy, to find a little more about you-"

A gulp randomly shot her words to bits. Neru clutched her bag to the point of destroying it, eyes widening with worry.

Teto didn't say anything about her interruption, she merely clasped hands to her mouth and dodged her gaze.

"Was that out of line? If I'm being offensive, sorry, I have a pitiful time expressing-"

"I didn't think we'd be talking about me today."

"Sorry! Ah, I can't think of anything else to say!" Was her heartbeat rising? Please, don't rise. Because she would need another hospital entirely if-

"Humans, you know by this point, don't want to get to know me. We did talk a little that last time but nothing really personal so...do you want to know more about me like an interview?"

"_Good. She's not angry, right? Just complimented, I guess._"

What arose from Teto's throat the next time was a bubbly giggle as she punched the air. "A double interview! You tell me your life story, I'll tell you mine!"

"Wait, wait, whoa, hold on," Neru clutched her bag shakily again; where the hell was this coming from? "The fact I have to be personal first sounds like a troll move. I'm no good at that kind of thing; like I've told you a million times!"

"Oh well." The very fact that Teto's shoulders shrugged after this sealed her troll-like set up. Neru looked on disapprovingly.

"J-just so you know, I'm no babbler about my personal life. I don't even have a good voice for speeches, and I repeat words like someone not good...you won't want to hear-" She bit her tongue for a minute, shutting herself up as Teto laughed again at her 'moment'.

"That's okay. We can start out with: do you have any parents or siblings?"

"_Why don't I want to punch her for laughing? I swear, she must have some kind of barrier of eternal happiness that tries to throw itself against others. Or some shit. Don't try now, poetry._"

"_Mom, why don't I have a Dad too?"_

_The broom that Mom was cleaning with crunched under her fists, then fell to the floor and left a dead silence in its path._

_Neru flinched at all of this, but being so young all she could do was questioningly look up at Mom. Mom was pale again; not surprisingly, but she wasn't swaying oddly this time._

"_What would make...where would this come from, Sweetie?"_

"_Some of the other kids are picked up from school,by a Mom and Dad. One boy always has his Dad come early so...I got to wondering."_

_Mom wasn't smiling. But she wasn't mad either. Neru picked up the forgotten pile of dust with her hand in the meantime and tossed it away to the trash._

_Finally after what seemed like years, Mom broke the silence by laughing. Strange enough._

"_Some families aren't like that, Sweetie. Oh, it's nice to have a big family but smaller ones can be just as nice. There are even little boys and girls who don't have either a Mom or Dad, and it's Grandma and Grandpa or even Aunt and Uncle."_

"_I can't imagine not having any of them."_

"_It's not as uncommon as it seems." Mom scooped Neru up in her arms, and brushed strands of hair from her cheeks idly. "When I was just two years older than you, my Mom and Dad left me and your Aunt and Uncles for adoption. I always wondered why, but then we all found a good life with new ones."_

_Neru just looked at her blankly, probably absorbing the details. But she didn't quite understand judging from her innocent smile._

"_Your dad was so wonderful; that's why you came to be. It didn't take too long for us to decide we wanted to start a family. He was good with kids, and thought wanting to have one made him 'unmanly' to the ladies so he tried to keep it a secret. Well, I didn't think so. That is a good quality in my book."_

"_But what else was Dad like?"_

"_I remember him down to every last detail." Mom thought about what she said for a moment, but soon shrugged and returned to balancing Neru a little more carefully as she snuggled against her. "He had golden hair which you inherited. His eyes always betrayed his feelings and often revealed his plans. He was always late for work, had poor coordination, could give a business presentation but got stage fright at the supermarket, and he loved to watch those cartoons with the big robots and shooting guns in space."_

"_Did you love him? You really talk about him loudly."_

"_Yes, I love him."_

"_What-"_

"_He's not here anymore, but if he were I could feel a little better still loving him."_

"_Dad isn't here, so he's...out of the town? He has to live somewhere."_

"_Um, he's not going to come back very soon. Don't worry about that Sweetie; he isn't hurting anymore where he is now."_

"_Oh, he's sick in a hospital. Maybe he'll get better and we can visit!"_

_Mom sighed aloud, not bothering to hide it. "Let's just focus on the present, Neru."_

"...I couldn't piece it together until six years later on my twelfth birthday. I overheard Mom talking to one of my uncles outside our house during the party, and they mentioned leaving flowers behind for the first time." Neru sighed, not bothering to hide it by this point. "Mom wouldn't be honest now, but I believe that Dad must died before I got to know him. She said he was gone, and I don't think that's the popular choice of censoring death around kids. You just say 'Honey-Pie, your daddy is gone thanks to a fucking bastard with a gun over some fucking stupid reason like the poor little bastard being angry about him raising his tone and thinking that's a good reason to **take a life before its time and leave everyone in shambles because**-'"

Teto cringed, but she leaned over and tightly held onto Neru's shaking shoulders. "Where does this 'bastard' come in? The gun? Taking someone's life? Neru, you said you didn't know **how **your dad **may **have died!"

Neru stopped shaking out of the blue, now rigid and staring wide-eyed at the other girl like she was a waking up from a trance. After several seconds of tense silence, she groaned and massaged her temples. It felt like her eyes and nose were going to start...leaking, so calming herself was the best she could do.

"I didn't mean to rant. Look, here I am totally forgetting that you're not looking for THAT deep of information and-"

"No, no, no, no! You seem less edgy now that you're out of the rant mode." Teto flashed a smile, and it was kind of reassuring. At least a little. She reached for Neru's tapping fingers and separated them. "Even if you don't have a dad or some brothers and sisters, you have one parent and uncle and aunt and grandparents...that all sounds great."

"But my grandparents are nearly seventy and their health can drop out of the blue, my mom physically can't handle stress and faints easily and she'll get close to seventy and die too, one of my uncles is sick with cancer, the other two live farther out in the countryside, and my aunt has been falling a lot lately."

"But you still have them-"

"I **won't **have any of them probably in a few years. I **won't **get to deal with them telling me I'm pretty when I complain about vain topics, my Mom encouraging me to get off my ass and be responsible, and just seeing them in general. It's not great because then it'll all be gone before I can blink!"

Teto, judging from her rather saddened expression, didn't know what to say to any of that. When Neru looked back to her shaking again, she did move closer and try to sooth her however.

"People are troublesome for me. They're so different than I am, and I'm one of them in the first place." But the doctors constantly denied the concept of her having a mental problem concerning fitting in, damn it. She thought that would have been logical. "My family accept me, and in recent years I've just pouted when they've tried to hug me or say I'm too busy when they invite me out. I hate it when I do that! If I have to be close to some of the human race, it may as well be them!"

She had her eyes shut so tight that she was shocked blood wasn't pouring from them. Well, tears couldn't escape. Instead, she could feel her nose leak. Horrified, she whirled away from Teto and scurried over to the bathtub for the towel lying on the edge.

Teto stopped standing there fiddling with her hands at long last. She took a breath of her own, offering some understanding by looking away as she loudly blew her nose.

"The human race seems very interesting to get to know – the dynamic personalities and lifestyles, it's too much to take in at once. If I could be close to at least one person from it, I'd be satisfied."

Neru was too busy handling her nose...so Teto filled that silence with a weak giggle. This one had no humor, joy, it was just hollow.

"I don't know who my parents are or if I even had siblings or other relatives. You're lucky, Neru."

"Don't say that. I must sound selfish or something now!"

"No!" Teto crossed the room like she was walking to the other side, but instead took a sharp tun to Neru's side and threw the discarded towel back into the water. "Let me tell you a short tale about the first time I heard the whole CONCEPT I may have a family somewhere in the world."

Neru looked away, hiding all of the less than presentable streaks under her nose. But she kept her ears open for this new piece of information.

"It was when I was, by what the employees around here estimated physically, eleven years old.

"_Mr. Jaaaaaaaason!" The chirpy voice rang out all over the office. Teto thought she sounded kind of cool in echo, but then shifted her attention to the man turning to her in his spinning chair._

"_Jason! I came to visit you!"_

_Jason looked like his eyeballs could explode from how much they were widening. But then he turned and slumped back over the desk like...what did he have to be scared of? A young girl dressed in crimson like her devil eyes? Those shining, deceiving, venom-_

_Before he had any time to find proper words, he gasped aloud when a weight suddenly fell onto his lap. He glared down at those same eyes looking up at him wither never-ending evil-_

"_What are you doing out of your room?" He thought for a moment. "And how long have I been a 'Mr.'? All of those beneath me must use 'Sir', and you know that."_

"_Oh well?"_

_Jason shook his head, looking like he was going to pass out from exhaustion. Instead, he sent her a warning glare. She hurriedly leaped off him and stood properly a good distance away._

"_I'll humor you once: what do you require that the robots can't aid with?"_

"_I wanted to ask a question that I thought only someone like you could answer!"_

"_Ugh, what is it?"_

_Teto played with the loose thread at the end of her sleeves idly, a little nervous now that he was glaring at her like he didn't give any concern about her question._

"_Well, Defoko helped me download a new song-"  
"Proper name."_

_Teto instantly glared herself. "Fine. **Uta **helped me download-"_

"_Number-"_

"_We downloaded a song for my music player!" Jason didn't hesitate to give a disagreeing look for the interruption, but she carried on a little louder. "In the song, some of the lyrics were talking about a family who I guess were fighting at one point! The oldest son left his house, and returned to his family after sucking at making it in the world!"_

_Jason whirled his chair away, shifting his attention to stuffing x-ray information in folders. It was like he was intentionally blocking her out, or something she noticed._

"_I was just wondering...?! Hello?!"_

"_I can hear you just fine."_

"_Did I have a family like that guy? I mean, not an unstable one but a group of people blood-related?"_

_Jason continued to stuff the folders in workaholic fashion, not even looking at her. But as the seconds ticked on and grew into a minute, he finally stopped and began to anxiously claw at his wrists._

"_Teto, you were left at the front door approximately one month old. No matter how corrupt, I don't think any parents would leave their children out in the open like that if they didn't want them. But you weren't abused, and were perfectly healthy. It was strange to me."_

"_So do I have parents or any other kind of family?"_

"_It's strange to think humans could spawn something like you."_

"_Huh?"_

"_You're not like me or anyone else in this world." Jason suddenly spun around, this time clutching the desk and raking it with his fingers chipping off the wood. "If anything, you had no parents or relatives because you're demon spawn! A gathering of unholy particles formed what looked like a human, but more flawed and dangerous than one could ever dream of being!"_

"Jason may not be the most friendly person, and to be honest he's cold and generally unpleasant. But he was the one who found me on the ground, and took me in from the rain."

"That's horrible. He sounds like he need someone to yank the stick out of his ass, then shove it through his throat so he can't-"

"Whoa, I never thought of killing him!"

Neru rolled her eyes, but did nothing else as she finally managed to stop her nose from leaking, as well as capture the droplets of blood that followed after all of the intense sniffling.

"So, I know what it's like to feel alone. I may actually be a manifest of unholy whatever, but that's not going to stop me from putting **effort **into someday leaving this hospital to learn of the how the humans live outside."

"Oh! Uh well if you want to know what what life is like outside, I can tell you." Neru took a breath, trying to keep herself composed again as she rediscovered her place on the floor.

Teto suddenly held her hand out, and didn't explain why. She only looked at her with empathetic eyes, and sat down before her on the floor too. Did she not want her to go on right now? What was the reason for all of these no-speak moments?

If she didn't want her to carry on with that topic anymore, the least she could do was establish another time for it. Neru opened her mouth, and once gathering the air to speak again, she calmed herself and said they would "talk about that kind of stuff later". The interviews were going to be paused for the moment, that was what she hoped to convey with her pleading gaze.

She didn't believe eyes could be that big and expressive, but there must have been a tiny sliver of truth in it for Teto to nod her head and then reach for her bag on impulse.

Wait, what? "Why are you taking my bag?"

"I remembered that I wanted to see your drawings! There's not much time left, so I want to see how good of an artist you are!"

"_Does she have problems with her attention span?_" Still, she watched as Teto didn't wait for an invitation to go through her bag and ignore anything that wasn't paper or a book. She sat back and waited. "_I'm such a dork, but oh well. I can't say no when she's smiling like a kid during Christmas._"

* * *

It didn't take long for Teto find the sketchbook of awesomeness, and she was quick to open it up and randomly zip through pages like there was no tomorrow. Neru's mouth fell open as she started at the very first page that contained random prep shapes of plants and birds, then went all of the way to page fifty that had her latest rough "realistic" sketches of a random person she saw on the street.

With a soft thud, the finished book fell to the floor and Teto gave her applause. "Those were really good! I liked how the plants at the beginning were stylistically crooked, and the cartoon people grew more detailed as time improved your skills!"

"Those crooked angles are stylistic?!"

Teto stared at her with her head tilted to the side. "A lot of the things you drew were crooked. But it's an interesting choice!" She began to hum as she grabbed the book again, and this time more carefully flipped pages to around the twenty-eighth page. "See, some of the bodies for people are off. Also, the mouths look too big. But I'm not really a creative person so maybe I don't have a place to be critical."

Neru had never let anyone outside of family see the artwork. The family only saw it because when they found her drawing, they would bug her until she gave in. But to hear someone that's not creative in her words attempt to point out an error she couldn't see...

That was certainly weird. She didn't know what to think.

Teto placed the book down between them on the floor, then started to flip pages a little slower. She remembered how Neru probably couldn't read as blinding fast as she could, so it was best to correct a mistake of her own.

"You know, music is also an art."

"Maybe? I've never really thought about music falling into that."

"It is~ Also, music can be as stylistic as drawing. Everyone has their own take on something, so there's no place to judge if this one person decides to take let's say...some slow R&amp;B and increase speed."

Speed. Was it always speed with her?

Teto stopped at one page, it was another prep one that had random subjects on it. Some little sketches were unfinished, or crossed out entirely. But she started to drag her finger around from the lop-sided man on a bicycle to the really huge squirrel perched on a mailbox.

"Even if I am not one of them per se, I think humans are interesting. They'll often try to do something different than another, and it's just fun to see what they're capable of. That's why both an acoustic and electric guitar can still deliver moving music. Of course, speedy beats are just my preference..." She trailed off, but in doing so grinned with no shame about the preference.

"_How could music be relevant to drawing? So what if they're both art? That would be like saying your socks are no different than your sweater because the both provide warmth. I can't ask her why because I'll fuck it up; the most I can do is give her my best poker face and nod._" So she did just that. It wasn't hard for Neru to look at her stoically and wait for her to end somewhere.

After another three minutes of Teto mindlessly talking about how music and drawing were related, and Neru tossing in a barely-thought-out comment here and there, there was a sudden swerve. Teto reached page forty, and she suddenly reached into the bag nearby.

"I want to try something out. Do you mind, Neru?"

"Uhhh, sure?"

Teto smiled. It seemed she must have dropped the previous topic again, no surprise there. She quickly took one of the pens she saw buried in the corner of the bag. One with blue ink.

"I noticed a clear space on this page of the book, and I thought I could try out my mad skills with the pen. I'm sure it's okay because there's barely anything else there."

"It's okay with me. I kind of gave up with the manga scene here anyway." She drew a few lines for the panel, a head without a face, then left it.

But that had been before she was seriously considering writing a manga in the first place. While she watched Teto lie down on her stomach and kick the air as she drew, she thought back to the times she tried to draw manga-style scenes for fun. What would she have looked like in the eyes of someone else?

Did she look like that? Someone who could let their imaginations explode onto the page and at the same time focus really hard on creating something? Neru wasn't oblivious to the fact she found enjoyment in this form of art, but would she be able to like doing this for the rest of her life?

If she managed to create a manga from information on this hospital's inner workings-

Wait, wait, wait, what was she doing? Neru suddenly stood up with more electricity going down her spine. It just occurred to her that she **didn't bother **to ask about the hospital during any of this time.

"_All I did was act like an emotional time bomb, try and overtake the position of queen of stoicism, and show off these drawings! I cannot believe-Actually, it's plausible. But still! Geez, I'm a fucking idiot right now! It's as if I find sitting around with her talking about whatever to be the better way to spend this afternoon._"

"Hmm, yeah, a little more bold lines there. Okay, that looks like it's ready~"

Neru jerked her head downward, very painfully, and gawked at the finished work on the page. Teto was back on her knees, grinning from ear to ear as she lifted the book up to her level.

"What do you think? Sitting around in a boring room all day helps sharpen one's skills, am I right?" Teto lifted her nose to the air, perhaps exaggeratedly proud of herself. Neru cracked a hint of a snicker but otherwise wore her poker face as she examined it.

The paper was now taken up entirely on the bottom by a row of people. One of them looked like a flattened version of Teto herself with pigtails opposite sizes, a man with a giant head with what looked like donkey ears sprouting and wrinkles all over his face, and random other people with varying degrees of accuracy. The other people were just there, both genders adorning those coats for employees.

"It looks very much like your personality." Neru looked back to the man next to Teto, she allowed herself to snicker under her breath. "This must be Jason, right? Symbolism that he's kind of an ass?"

"What does anyone's body have to do with this?" Teto looked back to the paper with a disappointed frown growing on her face. "Those were supposed to be elf ears. I told you that everyone has their own style, yet..."

"Hey, whether he's an ass or an elf I'm sure he falls into a negative category somewhere."

"Exactly! I don't have enough respect to call him 'Sir', at least."

* * *

Momo fidgeted endlessly. She sometimes bit at her fingertips, or walked in circles as she did her work on the floor. Fellow employees walking by would end her odd looks, but knowing which floor they were on they rushed to get back to their own things to do.

Defoko had been sitting on the floor eavesdropping on the whole conversation behind the closed door. She didn't know if Momo caught on, but she herself didn't mind recording bits and pieces of it for future purposes. If she were in another argument with that douche bag in the main office, she could use the recording as proof that Teto can understand humans too. She managed to give off empathy when the whole father topic entered the picture, and even if she was bashing him she still expressed a need that even humans have. Some of them are desperate to know where they came from despite all evidence pointing to it being a bad place.

Coming from a lab, neither she or the freaking out robot over there could relate to having these blood relatives and such.

"It's been half an hour. Do you want to ruin the party now?" Defoko lifted her head up to a passing Momo. She didn't react at all when Momo slid against the wall with relief.

"The student needs to get back to her own home, and those friends that one of the fellow workers brought over keep trying to get to the computers! I think it's time for them to leave."

"No, we should keep the friends around. Maybe if they corrupt some of the computers, the douche will throw a tantrum and be amusing."

With a barely-amused glare, Momo stepped over Defoko's legs and began to undo the locks. In response, the lazier one just shrugged her shoulders and pressed the button to end recording.

Not all of the locks had been placed on the door – only the weaker parts that had an annoying habit of breaking. This had been done to help the student if she was yet another person to be scared of what she didn't know, but wasn't excited about learning of.

As Momo slid off the first chain, she froze. Bubbly laughter rang out from the room in a blast of idealistic happiness.

"_Just imagining it. After all, that was not Teto's laugh._"

Time for the second chain. This one being a little more tedious, what with the way she had to twirl in a specific-

"'Flattened Jason'? Wow, you really don't like this guy!" More laughter, and she swore that it followed **the student's **words.

"_But that student looked so grim and unapproachable earlier. Can people like her laugh so happily?_" The comment about the boss totally not fazing her. After all, maybe if he were hit by a car- "_No! Stop thinking about unfairly he treats you and deserves punishment! H-he's your-your boss!_"

"Do you have anyone that you want to mock too? Here, you can take the blue. It's not my shade."

"Mm, no I can't say I know anyone I dislike. I don't have, um-"

"I know: don't ask you if you have friends."

"It's not because I hate others in general, really! Um, there are people who come off as too clingy to me and that's when I cringe and walk away."

"Really? Humans can be clingy to each other?"

"For example: I have a classmate who works here. She and another girl keep throwing themselves at me...you know, not in a romantic sense. I mean, if they did...wait...no I'm not thinking-"

"Neru, you're losing track of the topic! Quick, think about something else...ah...here! Ask me about these chubby penguins on page thirteen!"

A weak little laugh escaped again, but obviously covered with a cough. "Those are supposed to be some puppies I saw at the park once. My early work does kind of lack accurate details, doesn't it?"

"_Teto is really enjoying being with someone outside the hospital! She's trying to learn more, helping the student when she goes off on a bi-curious meltdown, and that grumpy person is actually laughing._"

A hand suddenly fell on Momo's skull. She yelped and whirled around really fast, crashing against the door and finding herself looking into Defoko's eyes.

"Either you're going to abide by," She snorted, not very ashamed judging by her everyday expression. "**rules**, or leave them in their for centuries. It's your choice, Momo."

"Well, I think they're bonding. It sounds very, not to be racist, human!" Momo shuddered, but then smiled with no hollowness or for appearances. "If it won't harm anyone, we could let them talk for a little longer. This would more than likely make Teto see that we're not against what she wants."

"Whatever made her come back, I think it's the better outcome. Going over the time doesn't mean anything to me – like every other rule."

In the end, Momo parted ways again to cook some dinner for the patients. Defoko decided she would stay and count their time some more, and in the meantime have an alone moment to feel motivated and expectant of good things.

Hopefully, the world wouldn't jack up this opportunity. It was definitely jinxing the situation by hoping, but Defoko gladly did it regardless.

* * *

_**And so it continues on...**_

* * *

Sorry for being late; stuff happened.

It doesn't really matter what the name of the hospital owner, boss, whatever has. That never crossed my mind during the hiatus of planning out the story. I certainly didn't want to give him an over-used Japanese name that's actually horribly-translated via Google. Should I ever give someone a Japanese name, I want it to be accurately researched and translated. That's just the way I roll. This is probably why I don't write stories for anime I like; I'm scared to fuck up names.

"Jason" probably didn't need a name at all, but he is going to have mild connection way later on. So it's the least I could do. You can barely call him an OC because he really doesn't contribute much.

Anyway, you must have a lot of endurance to finish this shitty chapter. Sorry if it wasn't worth it, and I'll maybe get around to spell-checking someday. In the meantime, I leave you for now.

See you in the next chapter.

This was The Chosen Storyteller; he's signing off now, so be good and what not in the meantime~


	7. Author's Note

Hey everyone, The Chosen Storyteller's here to give a special message to you readers.

Actually, it's kind of a depressing message more than special.

*Cringes* I'm sorry.

For some time now, I thought a planned out this story. It had a little draft, and some ideas I really wanted to put myself to the test on. But something happened; I started to lose my place in the plot, then realized the plot wasn't really **going **in the direction I wanted. Needless to say, thanks to...myself...the story was still fun to write but I didn't have motivation to continue.

It's not easy for me to put into words, but I believe I don't feel the story anymore. It's not heading anywhere, and that disappoints me greatly. I think writing should have a payoff for sticking to it.

The payoff should be enjoying the experience. But I can't enjoy the experience if I dislike the lack of plot, can I? At this point, I can't.

So the story will be discontinued. I'm sorry. I know you may want to harm me for this, but there's nothing to make me want to go back and continue the story. Now there is the option of re-writing it, but I simply don't have the time to do so. As strange as it sounds: I have a life.

I know – shocking. O_O

This story will not be re-written, and before anyone asks: no, I'm not the type of person who adopts out stories. This one will stay unfinished, and I'm not going to delete it either.

Well, that's all I have to say. But does this mean I won't write more NeruXTeto stories? No. I intend to write more with the couple someday.

See you around, readers. *Runs the hell away from potential danger*


End file.
